Week beginning Sunday, 30 August
seeing your life through the lens of the gospels
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
1 Certain sections of the Jewish people put great store on the importance of rules and conventions as a measure of the goodness of a person. Jesus challenges this view. How have you found that getting appearances right did not necessarily make you a good person?
2 Even fidelity in religious practice is not enough. ‘This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.’ How have you experienced the importance of carrying your faith beyond attendance at Mass on Sundays? When have you seen that in others? What brought this home to you?
3 What Jesus seeks are followers whose faith is whole-hearted and warm, people whose religion is not primarily in dutiful observance but in their enthusiasm for life and their care for one another. It is good to be with them. Think of the contrast between a dinner party, at which everything is just right but very formal, and another party which is rather haphazard and casual but full of great warmth.
4 ‘It is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come.’ It is also from within that good intentions come. We have choices. When have you been faced with the choice between good and evil? When did you realise the importance of accepting responsibility for your own life and choices? How has this helped your growth as a person?
John Byrne OSA
Email john@orlagh.ie
