Hearts are Far From Me

February 10, 2009

Memorial of Saint Scholastica, virgin

Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation. Genesis 2:2-3

"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

Help us to live up to our ideals. By uniting our hearts with yours, dear Jesus, help us draw closer to you and turn from our comfortable human conventions.

Study

The human and the divine. The clean and the unclean. Today’s readings give us an opportunity to reflect upon the tension between opposites.

The notes to the New American Bible teaches that “against the Pharisees' narrow, legalistic, and external practices of piety in matters of purification, external worship, and observance of commandments, Jesus sets in opposition the true moral intent of the divine law. But he goes beyond contrasting the law and Pharisaic interpretation of it. The parable sets aside the law itself in respect to clean and unclean food. He thereby opens the way for unity between Jew and Gentile in the kingdom of God, intimated by Jesus' departure for pagan territory beyond Galilee.”

Contrasting the human desires and divine intervention also is the theme of a story from the life of St. Scholastica who we remember today. The story is retold on the American Catholic website, in the breviary and elsewhere.

St. Scholastica founded a religious community just like her twin brother Benedict of Nursia. The twins visited each other once a year at a nearby farmhouse because Scholastica was not permitted inside the monastery to see her brother. They spent these times discussing spiritual matters. The stoiry picks up from there:

According to the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, the brother and sister spent their last day together in prayer and conversation. Scholastica sensed her death was close at hand and she begged Benedict to stay with her until the next day.

He refused her request because he did not want to spend a night outside the monastery, thus breaking his own Rule. Scholastica asked God to let her brother remain and a severe thunderstorm broke out, preventing Benedict and his monks from returning to the abbey.

Benedict cried out, “God forgive you, Sister. What have you done?” Scholastica replied, “I asked a favor of you and you refused. I asked it of God and he granted it.”

Brother and sister parted the next morning after their long discussion. Three days later, Benedict was praying in his monastery and saw the soul of his sister rising heavenward in the form of a white dove. Benedict then announced the death of his sister to the monks and later buried her in the tomb he had prepared for himself.

Action

Send your prayers of support to the Women’s team in formation for a weekend March. They will be having Talk Day this Saturday at Missionhurst. Please send your Palanca to the rectora Marilyn Krause (m.krause6@verizon.net).

Saturday is a busy day for action. There will be a Cursillo School at 9:30 a.m. at St. John the Beloved.

In addition, St. Ambrose Church (3901 Woodburn Road, Annandale, VA) is hosting a workshop on centering prayer. Contemplative Outreach of Metro Washington (COMW) is offering the Introduction to Centering Prayer Workshop, February 14. This introductory workshop is a presentation of the discipline of Centering Prayer as silent communion with God beyond concepts, words and images. The workshop includes instruction on the method of Centering Prayer in a one-day, six-hour workshop, plus six weekly sessions following the workshop. No previous experience is required.