September 1, 2024 – Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

+ From the Gospel according to Mark (Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23)

Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus.
When they saw that some of his disciples were eating with impure, that is, unwashed, hands (for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they have carefully washed their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the market they do not eat without first washing themselves; and they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of glasses, dishes, copperware, and beds), the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with impure hands?”
And he answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ You neglect the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
He called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a man that by going into him can defile him; but the things that come out of a man are what defile him.” And he said to [his disciples], “For from within, out of the heart of men, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

The Word of the Lord