The Works of Your Hands February 6

Memorial of Saint Paul Miki, martyr, and his companions, martyrs

God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

“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

Let us pray: Jesus, show me the hypocrisy in my life. Don’t allow me to condemn or judge others until I look into my own life and soul and see how I am persecuting your creation with my sins, with what I do and with what I neglect to do. Help me to remember that others come before me. When I do that, you will give me the gift of a truly preferential option for the poor and respect for all life and creatures that you have made in your image. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/020607.shtml

Jesus chooses some pretty strong words here. If he were around today, how might he condemn our actions? As a society and as individuals, do our views and our practices perfectly mess in a consistent ethic for life – what John Cardinal Bernadin termed a “seamless garment?”

Reflecting on hypocrisy is dangerous ground. If this were a newspaper editorial, it could throw about charges of hypocrisy for one reason or another. If this were a personal novel, it could condemn the hypocrites to the ninth circle of Hell a la Dante. That might just get some people so ticked off and they would stop reading Your Daily Tripod.

Jesus opens some new ground today. According to the notes in the NAB, the parable of Mark 7:14-15 sets aside the law in respect to clean and unclean food. Jesus thereby opens the way for unity between Jew and Gentile in the kingdom of God, intimated by Jesus' departure for pagan territory beyond Galilee.

“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.”

Juxtaposed with Genesis, we see that everything created by God is good. Jesus extends and underlines divinity in all creation clearly marking as unpure things that originate with humanity.

Action

We pour money into government programs but standby as genocide is inflicted on noncombatants in Darfur that don’t help the defenseless. We espouse “respect for life” yet carry our executions on people who have been ruled mentally retarded. We cry about our taxes yet don’t provide enough food for those who are hungry? We talk about ending abortion but how much do we help the hungry children born into poverty and disease by frightened young mothers?

How does our behavior individually not reflect respect for God’s creation? Don’t look at others. Look at yourself. What killing do you condone? How much energy do you use? How much waste do you generate? Do you recycle everything that can be reused?