REFLECTIONS TODAY

Fittingly, the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes is celebrated as the World Day of the Sick, for the spring in the Grotto of Massabielle which the Virgin Mary pointed to Bernadette Soubirous has become a famous pilgrimage site for those who ask for physical and spiritual healing. 

In the Gospel, Jesus and the Pharisees debate on the cleansing and purification that accompany one’s worship of God. While the Pharisees refer to the tradition of the ancestors, Jesus points to the actual action that comes from the heart, like the love and honor bestowed on one’s parents, and the virtues that flow out from a good heart.  This is shown by the love and care of people who volunteer to help pilgrims who need assistance in Lourdes. 

The pains and hopes of the sick, the assistance of family members and health workers, the prayers and petitions addressed to the Blessed Virgin, and the supplications that reach out to heaven are actions that come from humble, cleansed hearts.
 

Gospel • Mark 7:1-13 
 

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.  (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. 

And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.) 

So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.  You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” He went on to say, “How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition! 

For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and Whoever curses father or mother shall die. Yet you say, ‘If someone says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is qorban”’ (meaning, dedicated to God), you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. 

You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.”

Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2025,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.