By Colleen
O’Sullivan
(Moses said:) “Observe (the
commandments of the Lord, your God) 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?” (Deuteronomy 4:6-7)
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. (James 1:21b-22, 27)
(Jesus said to the Pharisees:) “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you
hypocrites, as it is written: 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. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to
human tradition.” (Mark 7:6-8)
Piety
I will plant my law within them, and write it upon
their hearts. (Jeremiah 31:33b)
Study
In our first Scripture reading, Moses tells the Israelites that the law
is such a wonderful gift from God that other nations will envy them for having
a God who is so close to them.
As we move along to the time of the prophet Jeremiah, we hear God’s
promise to inscribe the law upon our very hearts.
In the second reading today, James reminds us that everything good comes
from God, including the word that has been planted in our hearts. He admonishes us not merely to listen to the
word within us but to be doers of that word.
A pure expression of that word is to care for the most helpless among us
(the widows and orphans in his day) and to refrain from allowing the world to
color our lives.
Mark, in his Gospel, relates another confrontation with the Pharisees,
this time over the disciples’ not performing the ritual washing of their hands
before eating. By Jesus’ day there was a
ritual for purifying almost anything you could think of. In response, Jesus quotes Isaiah and tells
the Pharisees that while they pay lip service to God, their hearts are
distant. Much of what they call the law
comes from human beings rather than God, yet the Pharisees accord it all the
same importance.
As I pondered these Scripture readings, I kept thinking about how
everything spiritually important happens in our hearts. It’s almost as if our hearts are God’s
garden. The law is inscribed there. The word of the Lord has been planted and
seeks to bloom and grow. Because of
original sin, there are also always seeds of sin waiting to sprout – the evil
thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance and folly Jesus mentions to the
Pharisees at the close of today’s Gospel verses.
Our job is to tend the garden within us, to make sure that the Word
flourishes, flowers and fills the space within our hearts with Truth, beauty,
goodness, compassion, and generosity. We
have to constantly water it, nourish it, and keep it weeded. When our gardens are then overflowing with
blossoms, we are asked to share that abundance with those living at the margins
of society in our world.
In order to cultivate this sort of garden, we need to be close to the
Master Gardener. We can read and study God’s
word in the Scriptures. We can become
close friends with God through prayer.
Studying Scripture and becoming familiar with the Word made flesh help
the good things in our garden to grow.
If we don’t do this, there are always all those other seeds just waiting
to germinate, sprout and take over like kudzu.
Action
Take a few minutes today to visualize the garden that is your
heart. Do you picture what God has
placed within your heart as flowers, shrubs, fruit trees, or something
else? How do you think your garden
looks? Is it filled to overflowing with
good things or have some of those other seeds taken hold? However it looks, what do you need to do to
take good care of it?
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