Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time at Mississippi Abbey

Scripture Readings: Dt 4:1-2, 6-8; Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27;  Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Mark’s gospel began back in January with Jesus calling us to “Repent and believe in the gospel”; In other words, a call to let the good news affect us. Today, re: that affecting, Moses, James and Jesus tell us of the importance of the interior life. Jesus tells us that things that come from within us, from our hearts, are what defile us and, by implication, they can sanctify us and make us friends.

In order to sanctify us, our interior life must be governed by wisdom of heart. Wisdom is how we make distinctions. Moses commands a series of observances for the Israelites to follow. He tells them that if they follow these commandments of the Lord God, they will “give evidence to other nations of their wisdom, intelligence” and of their nearness to their God.

If ritual observance is evidence of wisdom, is Jesus contradicting this by telling us to have faith in Him? St. Bernard helps us understand. We are called to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” In the Bible, to taste means to experience; to find a way to take the experience into the heart. Bernard tells us that intelligence or knowledge refers only to understanding; wisdom refers to affection. Wisdom doesn’t just “know”; it savors what it distinguishes, it savors the taste thus making it an experience taken into the heart. In other words, in wisdom the Israelites and we may know what matters most, carry out rituals to express it, and set our hearts on it. To the point of Jesus’ teaching on ritual, Bernard writes, “Too often we do good without tasting its savor, obeying only reason, or bowing to some circumstance or necessity.” Bernard is saying this is where wisdom and observance meet. Observance should occasion savoring. What one loves, what one savors sets the direction for one’s life. It governs how we experience life by giving us faith. That is why God gave us the two great love commandments (and they are commands!).

Our actions will be directed toward what we love. Each of the vices Jesus listed today has objects of love that are inferior to and incompatible with love of God and neighbor. As objects of love, they will not make us happy, and that’s what He wants for us. Jesus is calling us to interior renewal. Bernard says continual Interior renewal is the reason for the existence of monastic life. Renewal consists of three things: right intention in the mind, purity of affection in the will, and mindfulness of good actions in memory. To do these we need a way of life that will guide our appreciation of the good, foster the right kind of desires, cultivate the proper kind of love, and we must develop attachments that will not destroy us.

Notice I said “We”. This is important: Three key phrases occur in each of today’s readings. First, “Moses said to the people…this is a great nation…”. Second, James addressed “Dearest brothers and sisters.” Third, “(Jesus) summoned the crowd again and said to them, ‘Hear me all of you…’” In each of these phrases custody of the heart, defense against the vices, requires a community. It requires friends. This is because living by the secular claim that moral values should be decided by each individual, not a code or community, arouses anxiety. Each individual finds this to be a burden. One’s moral standing is important to her. When one “makes up” a morality it lacks authenticity. It is hard to defend. It does not connect her to others.

For those of us in the vowed life—baptismal, marital and monastic—the authenticity is given to us. Morality, the formation of our hearts, is not a matter of one’s own shaping, but of allowing self to be shaped by the community way of life. Remember CSNY: ”You, who are on the road, must have a code that you can live by.’” We don’t have to create a code, i.e., values, principles, or virtues. Instead they constitute the way of life that we take for our own. Most of all, because this way of life is tested and given to us, we have confidence in its worth.

This is wisdom. As community we share it in good-will out of a common love for the One who is guiding our hearts today. And that makes us friends. It makes us character friends because Jesus is teaching us to set aside the question “What should I do?” and instead, together, ask “What should we become?”

Wisdom’s goal is interior peace through loving possession of the truth. And that is what must come out of the heart.