Sunday 29th August – XXII of Ordinary Time
The Word of the Lord
Disregarding the commandment of God, you observe the tradition of men.
From the Gospel according to Mark (7: 1-8.14-15.21-23)
At that time, the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus.
Having seen that some of his disciples ate food with unclean, that is, unwashed hands – in fact, the Pharisees and all Jews do not eat unless they have thoroughly washed their hands, following the tradition of the ancients and, returning from the market, do not eat without having did the ablutions, and observe many other things by tradition, such as washing of glasses, dishes, copper objects and beds -, those Pharisees and scribes questioned him: “Because your disciples do not behave according to the tradition of the ancients, but do they take food 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 his heart is far from me.
In vain do they worship me,
teaching doctrines which are precepts of men ”.
Neglecting the commandment of God, you observe the tradition of men ”.
Calling the crowd again, he said to them: «Listen to me all and understand well! There is nothing outside man that, by entering him, can make him impure. But it is the things that come out of man that make him impure “. And he said [to his disciples]: “From within, that is, from the hearts of men, evil intentions come out: impurity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these bad things come out from within and make man impure “.
Word of the Lord