22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23
World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation 2024
“You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions… All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean”. Jesus points out one important element which are essential for our spirituality. It is not to give more importance to human tradition than the commandment of God. This happens when we take the shield of human traditions to protect our selfish interests. All evil things, as Jesus says, come from within and we want to cover or wrap it with so called human traditions. Every tradition must be challenged with the Gospel. Every tradition must be purified by the Gospel values. Because incarnation changed everything. God became man. And this has its effect in everything and in every tradition. So, we must see that each tradition is being transformed by the incarnation. Each thing that come out of my mouth and out of my heart is according to the Gospel. This is very challenging. But at the same time, that’s what is to be a Christian. Because it’s the faith that motivates this. Faith is not only that God loves us, but it’s also that I can live according to the fact that God loves us. Let’s reflect: Am I a blind follower of traditions or I give more importance to the commandment of God than clinging to human traditions?
Don Giorgio