8.04.14

Lectio  : Mt 15.1-2, 10-14                              

Meditatio: "Why do your disciples break the traditions of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat....It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles a person; but what come s out of the mouth what defiles one..” Mt 15.2, 11                   

Oratio: O God, You must be amused by us who in our human wisdom develop all kinds of rules which we think will please You but we often get it wrong.

I remember the Jewish elders had insisted on washing of hands before meals as a way of being cleansed of any defilement which made them unclean to celebrate liturgy. Jesus corrected this practice by telling them they missed the point of what defiles a person. It is what comes out of the person that defiles - it our word that our hurtful, our expressed motives which give meaning to our actions and which often make an amoral action wrong. In prayer seek the grace to guard your thoughts and words and seek to conform to what Jesus wants of you and not what the world would wish of you.

Contemplatio: spend some time in silence and meditate on the selected passage and hear what
God is saying to you.

Operatio: reflect: "break...traditions...elders...not wash...hands”; the purpose of the tradition was to wash away any ritual defilement; but Jesus made it clear that such traditions are irrelevant for it is what comes our of one’ mouth and not what goes into one’s mouth which defiles. In prayer seek the grace of a pure heart and speak what is holy and right and not simply what pleases the world.

Tomorrow's reading: Mt 17.1-9