Reflection on Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
We each have vices of some sort which we seem to sometimes blame on outside influences. In reality, if we choose the wrong, even unconsciously, we are responsible for letting a vice manifest. When a vice flares up, we should make every effort to counter and repair the damage. We can do so by reaching inward and redirecting our thoughts to the holiness of the Trinity. Over time, if we do not want to do what we have done, God’s love will surface and help turn our vices into virtues. As Jesus points out, it is not how clean we are externally but if we have become pure inside.
The Pharisees Question Jesus, James Tissot, Brooklyn Museum
Additional Ordinary Time Reflections
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”
21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Additional Thoughts
Thank you for meditating on this daily Gospel reading and considering this reflection on Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23.
This site has written permission from New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) to use the Mark 7 Bible passage.
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Prayer for young families:
Lord, let the young families of our communities get to know your joy, peace, comfort, and love despite the world’s distractions.