Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
28TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 4 / (White)
St. Teresa of Avila, virgin & doctor
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 119: 41, 43, 44, 45,47, 48: Let your mercy come to me, O Lord.
1st Reading: Galatians 5: 1-6
Christ freed us, to make us really free. So remain firm, and do not submit, again, to the yoke of slavery. I, Paul, say this to you: if you receive circumcision, Christ can no longer help you.
Once more, I say, to whoever receives circumcision: you are now bound to keep the whole law. All you, who pretend to become righteous through the observance of the law, have separated yourselves from Christ, and have fallen away from grace.
As for us, through the Spirit and faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
In Christ Jesus, it is irrelevant, whether we be circumcised or not; what matters is, faith, working through love.
Gospel: Luke 11: 37-41
As Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to have a meal with him. So he went and sat at table.
The Pharisee then wondered why Jesus did not first wash his hands before dinner.
But the Lord said to him, “So then, you Pharisees, you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside yourselves you are full of greed and evil.
Fools! He who made the outside, also made the inside. But according to you, by the mere giving of alms everything is made clean.
REFLECTION:
“Benevolent goodwill.”
The benevolent goodwill of a person is never determined by external factors. It simply flows from within the inherently good nature of the human person. Our inherently good character impels us to give because giving is part and parcel of our true nature.
Externalities, such as the rituals we perform, may even hinder us from exercising our benevolent goodwill. Empty rituals can even adulterate our hearts.
At times, rituals are even used as a coverup for our failure to exercise benevolent goodwill.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus denounced the Pharisees’ legalistic practices. They were too preoccupied with externalities. Jesus challenged them to clean their inner selves rather than focusing on externalities. True almsgiving is born out of an exercise of benevolent goodwill. The Greek word itself for alms is eleemosyne, which refers to an exercise of benevolent goodwill. In today’s Gospel, a Pharisee invited Jesus to dine at his home.
However, this same Pharisee looked at Jesus not in terms of goodwill but in terms of ritual observance.
He failed to recognize Jesus’ goodwill, as well as his own goodwill, because he was blinded by his preoccupation with rituals such as the washing of hands before meal.
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