MEMORIAL OF SAINT JOHN MARY VIANNEY, PRIEST

First Reading Jeremiah 30:1-2,12-15,18-22

Psalm Ps. 102:16-18.19-21 and 22-23 (R. 17)

Gospel Matthew 15:1-2,10-14

Today, we celebrate the Memorial of St. John Mary Vianney. He is celebrated today as patron of Priests. His dedication to duty and selflessness led many back to God. Although he was a weak student he was ordained on account of his devoutness rather than any achievement or promise. Like St. Pio of Pietrelcina, St. John Mary Vianney is also remembered as a very good confessor. Today, we ask God, thought the intercession of St. John Mary Vianney, to bless all Priests and renew in them zeal for the singular mission of the salvation of souls.

Matthew's account is still of great concern today as we tend to have a continuous reading, a lectio continua. At the heart of today's Gospel is the Jewish practice of washing. Jesus and his disciples were confronted by the Pharisees and the Scribes concerning the refusal of the disciples to go through the practice of hand washing before eating.

Jews had a lot of laws, some concerning ritual cleansing. These laws have been given relevance and attention has been given to these practices more than the hearts accompanying these practices. This were done to “fulfill all righteousness”.

Sometimes we need to go beyond the rules and regulations in order to discover their relevance. These can best be made clear to us when laws are obeyed not as ends in themselves but for a different but good purpose and out of faithfulness. We cannot always be listeners of the story. We have to be part of it.

Jesus' concern for the purity of the heart sets the motion for us to have an introspection. A pure heart is what God takes delight in. It is what comes out of the heart that defiles us. The heart is the 'soul', the life of man. In it dwells the totality of man. Anything proceeding from it tells who we really are.

Heart and mind, in Jewish conception, are conceived in same proportion. Hence, when a Jew speaks of the Heart, he necessarily speaks of the mind. Our thoughts are also included in what defiles us. Sin starts from the mind, from a decision, a conception before its execution.

Visible practices should agree with internal dispositions.

Today, we ask the Lord to purify our hearts and help us to act out of devotion from the heart and not only by visible practices.

Pax et Bonum

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"STAY WITH US, LORD" (Luke 24:29)

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