Tuesday, December 6, 2022

 

Tuesday, December 6, 2022


Psalm 86

Isaiah 7:18-8:4

Mark 7:1-23


Observance: Second Tuesday in Advent; Nicholas of Myra, bishop and philanthropist (d. c. 342)


There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.


When Jesus spoke these words and declared all foods clean, He was abrogating the need to follow ancient Jewish dietary laws, not common sense. Those leftover nachos that have been sitting in the back of the fridge for a week are certainly not “clean”, ritually or otherwise, despite how much you turn over these words of our Lord.


In another place, Jesus teaches us that the mouth speaks what the heart is full of (Luke 6:45). There is a relationship between what we consume and how our soul is affected. But it is not the mechanical relationship imagined by Jesus’ critics. For example, consuming distasteful media does not render us automatically incapable of approaching the throne of God in prayer.


Let us return to the theme of Advent as a penitential season, as a time to detox our soul. What could we put into our soul to flush out the toxins we have accumulated simply due to existing in a fallen world?


“God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us”, teaches Saint Paul (Romans 5:5). The third Person of God, the Holy Spirit, is the wheatgrass shot in our breakfast juice. God Himself, coming into and taking over our lives, causes demons, impurities, toxins and everything unholy to flee from His perfect beauty. This is what our hearts are full of: God’s love, direct from the source of God Himself.


All those evil intentions listed by Jesus can be flipped around, and we can see when God’s holiness is coming forth from within us: sexual purity, generosity, loving kindness, loyalty, selflessness, truthfulness, self-control, contentment, encouragement, wisdom. When our hearts urge us in this direction, we rejoice, because it is proof that God is at work in our lives, blessing us, and using us to bless others.



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