The Gospel for today should prompt us to reflect on our interior lives, rather than just on the external. In the passage, Jesus dines with a Pharisee and criticizes him for cleaning the outside of the cup and dish, but being filled with uncleanliness. Going through external rituals and practices does not really show who a person is, as what matters most is what is in the heart. Are we simply going through the motions in our faith, or have our hearts been transformed?
As Catholics, different rituals are part of our faith. There are many things that we do that can be seen externally. We go to Mass, we pray, we receive the sacraments. But, through all of these experiences, have we experienced a conversion of heart? Or, are our hearts still filled with greed, envy, resentment, pride and thoughts that are not of Christ?
We must allow Jesus to transform us through the faith rituals and experiences we have. Otherwise, these external practices may mean simply going through the motions and our faith being just a part of our lives, rather than allowing our faith to be our way of life.
The Lord knows what’s in our hearts. So no matter what we are doing and what people might see, He knows whether our love for Him and others is genuine and sincere. When we fail to love God as we should, we can turn to the sacrament of reconciliation so that we can restore our relationship with Him. This too is something we do out of love for God. If we love God, we want to show up, truly sorry, so that we can be in right relationship with Him.
We can appear to be doing all of the right things on the outside. Like the Pharisee in the Gospel, we can look clean on the outside. However, do our external actions and appearances flow from a heart that is pure and full of love for the Lord? My prayer for each of us today is that we would continually allow Jesus to transform our hearts and minds, so that we can grow in our interior lives.
