Hello Everyone and welcome to September!
Gospel
Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
—For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders.
And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves.
And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds. —
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?”
He responded,
“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.”
He summoned the crowd again and said to them,
“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.
“From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”
The Gospel of the Lord! Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ!
We need to remember the cleansing power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation in our lives!
Tomorrow, Monday in the United States we celebrate Labor Day. We honor it by not working or going to school on that day. To me this day has a spiritual meaning as well for all people. Work or “labor” is good for us. It is not the result of Original Sin. God worked when he created the world and universe and all created things; and rested on the 7th day. See Gen. 1:1-2:3 We see next in Scripture that “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” Gen. 2:15 This is before the 1st sin and to till and keep a large garden is work. Now at this time the work was not as hard as it became after Original Sin, cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. Gen. 3:17b-18. So work has always been, but after Original Sin it because hard. We also “work out our Salvation”. Yes Christ died for us and opened the gates of Heaven for us, but we are to “take up our cross and follow Him”. We see in Scripture; So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. James 2:17 and “for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.” James 2:26
Have a good and Blessed Week! Some Saints for this week: Pope Gregory and the Birthday of Mary!
Sr. Catherine Nagl