Today's Gospel

[FK04US]

Mark 7: 1 - 13
1 Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem,
2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed.
3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders;
4 and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.)
5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?”
6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' 8 You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men." 9 And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! 10 For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother’; and, He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die'; 11 but you say, If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban’ (that is, given to God) –
12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother,
13 thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do.”

Hi all. Today’s gospel talks about Jesus reprehending the Pharisees for their rigid views of Traditions. This made me think about my sense of respect and adherence to Catholic traditions, and more specifically, liturgy, Mass. Our priest asked us in his homily: What would Jesus say about our focus on our traditions TODAY?

I know that guys/gals in this forum are very respectful of Church traditions in regards to liturgy. I also like them a lot, and try to be very respectful of them and educate other people about them; however, readings like today’s Gospel always make me think about the possibility that Jesus could consider me a Pharisees of the XXI century. How do you reconcile this Gospel with our strong defense for Catholic traditions? How do we avoid being one of the Pharisees of Jesus’ time?

Thanks

 

[Cluny]

The services in the synagogues and Temple were VERY traditional, and Jesus not only frequented them, but even took part in leading them.

Think about it.

 

[EEmperor]

Interesting question, and I believe we should take that passage as a warning.
However, there is one very important difference between our traditions today and that of the Pharisees:
The pharisees took tradition too seriously, and by that I mean, they thought that tradition, and the way they did things, was more important than what they felt.
As Jesus puts it: “They are clean on the outside, but filthy on the inside.”
That is, they want to “be honoured among men” for their traditions and rituals, and don’t care for what they think, or feel, so long as tradition is done correctly.
Us catholics on the other hand, use tradition as symbology and as a means to contact God, and contact Jesus, and receive their mercy and grace through it. But what really matters if how you feel inside, and whether you do your best to honour God, live by His commandments, etc.

Let me give you an example. Confession. If you were a modern “pharisee” you would go to confession every week, never miss it even once, and look down upon anyone who went less often and you would comment with people on how those persons were bad catholics. Inside confession, you would confess only part of your sins, or maybe even all of them, but you wouldn’t feel sorry for commiting them, or even think about stopping your sinning.
That’s what the pharisees did basically, they did all the rituals, but without any real sincerity.

A good catholic on the other hand, might only go to confession once a month, or even once a year, but when he or she does, that person is really sorry for what they did, and really wants to improve him or herself.

I hope this helps, and sorry for the lenght of the post

 

[cyr514]

For today’s Mass readings (Gen 1:20-2: 4a, Mark 7:1-13) my priest asked we daily Mass goers to contemplate about knowing the difference between Tradition with a big ‘T’ and tradition with a small ‘t’. He said that daily mass participation is a small ‘t’ and that Sunday Mass participation is a big ‘T’. He said that it’s a very American tradition that has been made and that most other countries don’t do daily Mass. It made me feel so sad. I don’t feel like I’m coming to daily Mass to be a hypocrit, self-righteous, or out of some religious neurosis. I like daily Mass to unite with the Love of my life, my Hope, my Savior in whom I trust and to be strengthened by Him. Is there something true about this and am I just taking it wrong and being oversensitive?

 

[EEmperor]

For today’s Mass readings (Gen 1:20-2: 4a, Mark 7:1-13) my priest asked we daily Mass goers to contemplate about knowing the difference between Tradition with a big ‘T’ and tradition with a small ‘t’. He said that daily mass participation is a small ‘t’ and that Sunday Mass participation is a big ‘T’. He said that it’s a very American tradition that has been made and that most other countries don’t do daily Mass. It made me feel so sad. I don’t feel like I’m coming to daily Mass to be a hypocrit, self-righteous, or out of some religious neurosis. I like daily Mass to unite with the Love of my life, my Hope, my Savior in whom I trust and to be strengthened by Him. Is there something true about this and am I just taking it wrong and being oversensitive?

There’s nothing wrong with that, as you said, you go to daily mass to be with God. If you went for wordly glory, THEN you’d be wrong, but that is not the case. Well done for going to mass so often by the way!

 

[LilyM]

For today’s Mass readings (Gen 1:20-2: 4a, Mark 7:1-13) my priest asked we daily Mass goers to contemplate about knowing the difference between Tradition with a big ‘T’ and tradition with a small ‘t’. He said that daily mass participation is a small ‘t’ and that Sunday Mass participation is a big ‘T’. He said that it’s a very American tradition that has been made and that most other countries don’t do daily Mass. It made me feel so sad. I don’t feel like I’m coming to daily Mass to be a hypocrit, self-righteous, or out of some religious neurosis. I like daily Mass to unite with the Love of my life, my Hope, my Savior in whom I trust and to be strengthened by Him. Is there something true about this and am I just taking it wrong and being oversensitive?

Most other countries don’t do daily Mass? Rot! Priest are ALL, in whichever country, obliged to say Mass daily if they can, and wherever and whenever there are priests saying daily Mass, there will be parishioners who attend as well.

 

[ASD]

Mark 7: 1 - 13
1 Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem,
2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed.
3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders;
4 and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.)
5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?”
6 And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, `This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me

Quick response: I think the passages in bold above apply at least as much to liberal and cafeteria Catholics as they do to traditionalists. I mean, when liberal Catholics bend over backwards to accomodate current cultural norms, ignoring inconvenient scripture and Church teachings, aren’t they adhering to the “precepts of men?”

Maybe more later.

ASD​

Traditional Latin Mass: Translation and Grammar

 

[FK04US]

Thank you everybody for your comments. This Gospel was indeed very compelling and it is good that we make some time to reflect on what Scripture is telling us on our daily life and attitudes. Thanks to your comments I don’t feel that much as a Pharisee any more, but I will keep my “eyes” open so I can be alert if any Pharisee like attitude may be around me.

God bless you all.

 

[cyr514]

Thanks to all who offered encouragement. I searched my heart and found that indeed it is easy to swing from sinning to superiority attitude (both break relationship with Him) and that to truly walk with Jesus requires steady self-vigilance and humility…daily Mass is helpful, to me at least, for this reason…it’s okay to be needy of the Lord…and I feel like adding a little stanza to the “do it anyway” poem that Blessed Mother Teresa made famous (prayerfoundation.org/mother_teresa_do_it_anyway.htm)
If you attend Mass daily
you may be accused of being a Pharisee
attend Mass daily anyway…
“In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

 

[NeedImprovement]

In the homily I heard at Mass yesterday concerning that passage from scripture (well now you know I go to daily Mass…I don’t really care what they call me ; the bottom line is I don’t think I can live without daily Mass now) … the presider said that the pharisees were comprised mainly of lay people who were interested in getting the observance of the law and God’s word back into the hearts of the people by instruction.

He also said that, generally this was a good thing. According to his homily, it was the pharisees of Jerusalem who were the more tyrannical in their approach. They tried to manipulate people by guilt…Jesus wouldn’t do that - He forgives guilt.

I’ve seen that question, “What would Jesus say?”, go both ways - either to support the faith or to support someone’s very distorted perception of it. When I’m asked that question, I usually answer, “It’s probably a little safer to concentrate on what He **did say **rather than what He would say.”

God Bless.

 

[cyr514]

I feel encouraged once again to hear another speak of the Life that they receive from daily Mass and communion…

yes, and what I hear that He did say is that we should not nullify His commandments with manmade ‘additions’…He commands us to love one another and to abide in Him and even His prayer is that we should have His daily bread…this is what daily Mass is.