Wash the inside first

1. The Spirit of the Law
2. With All Your Heart 

Introduction by the Celebrant
1. The Spirit of the Law
How do you experience laws, especially God’s commandments? Many people consider them as something coming from outside themselves, as burdens imposed on them. Of course, if they are outside you, you cannot love them, you feel like rejecting them or observe only the absolute minimum required. If we understand that their inspiration is love of God and love and respect for people, then they can become a part of ourselves and live in our hearts. Let us ask the Lord that with generosity and love we may go far beyond the letter of the law.

2. With All Your Heart
We are gathered here to listen to the word of God and to eat from his table. To listen means not simply to hear what the Lord has to say, but to let his word guide our life. But even our obedience to God’s word should not become a mechanical compliance. God is a God who loves us, who wants to be near to his people. If we respond to his love, our response to him and to his word and commandments cannot be anything else than a response from the heart, an answer given to him by free and responsible people.

First Reading: The Law Brings Life and Wisdom
Keeping God’s law brings wisdom and life to his people. It is their response of loyalty to God’s liberating nearness.

1 Reading Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8
Moses said to the people:
“Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees
which I am teaching you to observe,
that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land
which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
In your observance of the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin upon you,
you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.
Observe them carefully,
for thus will you give evidence
of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations,
who will hear of all these statutes and say,
‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’
For what great nation is there
that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us
whenever we call upon him?
Or what great nation has statutes and decrees
that are as just as this whole law
which I am setting before you today?”

Responsorial Psalm 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5
R. (1a) One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Whoever walks blamelessly and does justice;
who thinks the truth in his heart
and slanders not with his tongue.
R. One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Who harms not his fellow man,
nor takes up a reproach against his neighbour;
by whom the reprobate is despised,
while he honours those who fear the LORD.
R. One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Who lends not his money at usury
and accepts no bribe against the innocent.
Whoever does these things
shall never be disturbed.
R. One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Second Reading: Live by God’s Word
God’s word has brought us life. We should put it into practice, with love of neighbour as the heart of it; then we will give genuine worship to God.

2 Reading James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27
Dearest brothers and sisters:
All good giving and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.
He willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you
and is able to save your souls.

Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this:
to care for orphans and widows in their affliction
and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Alleluia James 1:18
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: Serve God with the Heart
True religion consists in a personal relationship with God (and people), not in the observance of the law. Human traditions often stand in the way of God’s law of love.

Gospel Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
—For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders.
And on coming from the marketplace
they do not eat without purifying themselves.
And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds. —
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?”
He responded,
“Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honours me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”

He summoned the crowd again and said to them,
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.

“From within people, from their hearts,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”

Commentary
“Listen to me, all of you, and understand!” His words force us to pay attention. No Christian reading this could believe that this was addressed only to the historical scribes and Pharisees. It is addressed to us, no less than to them. It is much easier to deal with outer, visible things than with the inner world of attitudes, with the heart; and so we tend to evaluate others and ourselves in purely external ways: the number of prayers we recite, the number of Masses we attend, the amount of money we give etc. There is nothing wrong with the external world of things, but there is also an inner world that shapes and gives meaning to the external. It is difficult to retain a clear vision of the Gospel: that “God is Spirit, and those who worship him should worship in spirit and in truth.” (Jn 4:24)

Blessing
In a spirit of gratitude
for all God has given us,
let us put our hearts
into seeking in the commandments
not our will but the will of God.
God’s word in the gospel
and Jesus’ own attitude tell us
what is meant by God’s will.
May almighty God give you the strength
to do his liberating will:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Let us go and seek God’s will in all we do.
R/ Thanks be to God.