|
Dear Preachers:
WELCOME
to the latest email recipients of “First Impressions,” the retreatants of
the Dominican Sisters of Peace, Columbus, Ohio and the
contemplative retreatants at the Santa Sabina Center in San Rafael Ca.
“Statutes and decrees“ – that is what Moses is placing before the Israelites.
Isn’t that what we expect religious leaders to do, lay out the rules and
regulations in order to be in good standing with God? “Just follow these rules,
and God will be pleased with you.“ Clear and simple, isn’t it? Clear cut
directions for holiness.
That was the thinking of the Pharisees and scribes who had gathered around to
observe Jesus. Devout Jews had heard the scriptural challenge to holiness in
their tradition. For example: “Be holy for I the Lord your God, am holy“
(Leviticus 19:2). Their response to the call to holiness was to develop a
protective hedge of 613 precepts around the core commandments of their faith.
They knew each of these precepts and observed them as carefully as possible.
For example: hand washing was not just a matter of cleanliness and good hygiene.
It was a means of obtaining holiness in preparation for ritual and ceremony. The
manner of hand washing was prescribed exactly. It was to be done before every
meal and even between each course. (It must have taken a long time to get
through a meal!) The washing required hands with fingertips pointed upward. Pure
water was poured over them and flowed down to the wrists. Even the amount of
water was prescribed; about a quarter of a cup. After the prescribed washing the
hands were declared clean and allowed to be used for holy purposes. Precise
cleansing procedures were also spelled out for washing pots, cups, and other
utensils.
The Pharisees challenged Jesus because his followers failed to perform the
required cleansing rituals. Can you imagine, peasant farmers, carpenters, and
fishing people going through the elaborate cleansing at each meal! How would
they have time to work and feed their families? Jesus confronts his opponents on
their lip service and proclamations about goodness. He accuses them of being
preoccupied with superficial observances, “human precepts,” while they
“disregard God commandments.“
If the Pharisees thought they were pure in the ritualistic observances, Jesus
draws on the teachings of their own prophet Isaiah to critique them: “This
people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me….” “You
disregard God’s commandments, but cling to human tradition.” Jesus names some of
the evil humans do, “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.” Did Jesus leave anything out from the exhaustive list he proposes?
It may not be evil that comes from our hearts. But I bet we fall short in
holiness because our life is bound by daily routine: getting up, eating
breakfast, going to school or work, preparing dinner, shopping, spending time on
our computer, or cell phone, then going to bed. That repetitiveness day after
day can keep us in a rut. As a result, we may be going through life bored, but
still comfortable with the familiar and daily predictability. We would prefer
that nothing break the rhythm and routine.
Probably our prayers are also quite “proper,” the approved ones we have
customarily prayed since childhood. Nothing wrong with praying the accustomed
prayers from our religious tradition. But the challenge we hear from today’s
gospel is Jesus’ question about whether our prayers spring from an authentic
life, rooted, and animated in God, or merely one that follows routine and felt
obligations.
Jesus took exception to the scribes and Pharisees because, in trying to
scrupulously observe the laws and regulations they discerned to be constitutive
of holiness, they missed the importance of inner transformation that flows into
words and works. In sum, the tradition of the elders that the Pharisees had
intended to preserve by their scrupulous laws and practices, had become a wall
that kept them from getting close to God and one another in their prayers and
daily lives.
In his arguments with his opponents, Jesus shows his own religious commitment to
the Jewish faith. He draws on Israel’s prophetic tradition condemning the self
interest of his opponents. He says their hearts are far from God. In our reading
today, Jesus refers to the heart twice. He raises a question for us: where is
our heart in our religious practices? The heart was considered the center of
one’s will and source of a person’s decisions. A hardened heart shows in a lack
of compassion for others.
So, having soiled hands at worship is not as important as a soiled heart is in
damming our spiritual condition. As Jesus says, it is not what comes from the
outside that the defiles a person, “but the things that come out from within are
what defile.” We should then examine what is at the heart of our daily religious
practices. Are they done out of habit and routine, or do they reveal a genuine
love for God and compassion for others?
Click here for a link to this Sunday’s readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090124.cfm
JUSTICE BULLETIN BOARD
September 1, 2024
World Day of
Prayer for Creation
In Pope
Francis’ “Message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation” he is
quite clear how we should respond as a people of faith.
“Hope
and Act with Creation” is the theme of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of
Creation. The theme is drawn from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans (8:19-25),
where the Apostle explains what it means for us to live according to the Spirit
and focuses on the sure hope of salvation that is born of faith, namely, newness
of life in Christ.
6. To hope and act with creation, then, means above all to join forces and to
walk together with all men and women of good will. In this way, we can help to
rethink, “among other things, the question of human power, its meaning and its
limits.
9. To hope and act with creation, then, means to live an incarnational faith,
one that can enter into the suffering and hope-filled “flesh” of others. . .In
this way, our lives can become a song of love for God, for humanity, with and
for creation, and find their fullness in holiness.
Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of
Creation [1st September 2024] (27 June 2024) | Francis (vatican.va)
Dear Lord,
-
We
have come to renew our covenant with God and with one another in Christ
Jesus, our Lord.
-
We
have come to help protect God's creation.
-
We
have come as followers of Jesus to commit ourselves anew to one another and
to heal injustice and poverty.
-
We
have come to stand together against all threats to life.
-
We
have come to discover some new beauty every day in God's creation: the
sunrise and sunset, birds, flowers and trees, rainbows in the sky, the
stars, the many forms of life in the forest.
-
We
have come to listen to the "music of the universe"- water flowing over
rocks, the wind, trees bending in the wind, raindrops pattering the roof.
-
We
will remember always that God speaks to us through the beauty of his
creation, and we will try our best to answer God's call to reverence all
that he has created. Amen.
( Prayers on the Care of Creation | USCCB )
Live
Lightly Upon the Land
Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS,
Director
Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries
Holy Name of Jesus
Cathedral, Raleigh, NC
FAITH BOOK
 Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the
run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish
bulletins people take home.
From today’s Gospel reading:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
Reflection:
No one can deny Jesus’s desire to form a holy people; but mere exterior legal
observances can’t do that on their own. They don’t affect a person’s heart. The
interior of a person must be transformed first, then the proper exterior
practices will flow naturally.
So, we
ask ourselves:
• Has my religious practice become rote, the
result of habit?
• What first step can I take to see to improving
the condition of my heart?
POSTCARDS TO DEATH ROW INMATES
“One has to strongly affirm that condemnation to the death penalty is an inhuman
measure that humiliates personal dignity, in whatever form it is carried out."
---Pope Francis
Inmates on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each
week I am posting in this space several inmates’ names and locations. I invite
you to write a postcard to one or more of them to let them know that: we have
not forgotten them; are praying for them and their families; or, whatever
personal encouragement you might like to give them. If the inmate responds, you
might consider becoming pen pals.
Please write to:
-
John Elliot #0120038 (On death row since 5/4/1994)
-
Wade Cole #0082151 (6/14/1994)
-
Alden Harden #0166056 (8/12/1994
-
----Central Prison P.O. 247
Phoenix, MD 21131
Please note: Central Prison is in
Raleigh, NC., but for security purposes, mail to inmates is processed through a
clearing house at the above address in Maryland.
For more information on the Catholic position on the death penalty go to the
Catholic Mobilizing Network:
http://catholicsmobilizing.org/resources/cacp/
On this page you can sign “The National Catholic Pledge to End the Death
Penalty.” Also, check the interfaith page for People of Faith Against the Death
Penalty:
http://www.pfadp.org/
DONATIONS
“First Impressions” is a service to
preachers and those wishing to prepare for Sunday worship. It is sponsored by
the Dominican Friars. If you would like “First Impressions” sent weekly to a
friend, send a note to Fr. John Boll, OP at
jboll@opsouth.org.
If you would like to support this ministry, please send tax deductible
contributions to Fr. Jude Siciliano, O.P.:
St. Albert Priory
3150 Vince Hagan Drive
Irving, Texas 75062-4736
Make checks payable to: Dominican Friars.
Or, go to our webpage to make an online donation:
http://www.PreacherExchanhe.com/donations.htm
RESOURCES
ORDERING OUR
CDs:
We have compiled Four CDs for sale:
-
Individual CDs for each Liturgical Year, A, B
or C.
-
One combined CD for “Liturgical Years A, B and
C.
If you are a preacher, lead a Lectionary-based
scripture group, or are a member of a liturgical team, these CDs will be helpful
in your preparation process. Individual worshipers report they also use these
reflections as they prepare for Sunday liturgy.
You can order the CDs by going to our webpage:
https://www.PreacherExchange.com
and clicking on the “First Impressions” CD
link on the left.
OTHER
PUBLICATIONS BY EMAIL:
1. "HOMILÍAS
DOMINICALES" ---These Spanish reflections on the Sunday and daily scriptures are
written by Dominican sisters and friars. If you or a friend would like to
receive these reflections drop a note to "Fr. John J. Boll, O.P."
<preacherexchange@att.net>
2. "VOLUME 2" is an opportunity for you to hear
from the readers of First Impressions. To subscribe or Send your own
reflections: Send them to "Fr. John J. Boll, O.P." <preacherexchange@att.net >
Your contributions to Volume 2 are welcome.
OUR WEBSITE:
https://www.PreacherExchange.com
- Where you will find Preachers Exchange, which includes "First Impressions,"
"Homilias Dominicales," and "Volume 2" as well as articles, book reviews, daily
homilies and other material pertinent to preaching and Scripture reflection.
FOR EMAIL HELP OR TO UNSUBSCRIBE, SUBSCRIBE, OR
CHANGE:
Email "Fr. John J. Boll, O.P." <preacherexchange@att.net>
FIRST IMPRESSIONS Archive
(The latest are always listed first.)
• 27th SUNDAY •
• 26th SUNDAY •
• 25th SUNDAY •
• 24th SUNDAY •
• 23rd SUNDAY •
• 22nd SUNDAY •
|
