• September 1, 2024, Today’s Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET
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Friends of the Rosary,
The Scribes and Pharisees—the religious leaders of the Jews—prided themselves on their strict observance of the Mosaic Law and human traditions. They performed many acts of virtue, developing a proud superiority complex and keeping themselves apart from ordinary people.
Christ’s mercy, kindness, and understanding for sinners made them oppose the Son of God. During his public life, he forgave the adultress, ate with sinners, and made a tax collector one of the apostles. He promised forgiveness to all who would repent of their past misdeeds. He objected to the Pharisees their lack of merciful love.
To the Pharisees, all the lowly and uneducated in the law were sinners, while they had the worst sin of all — the original sin of mankind, the sin of pride.
In today’s encounter with the Pharisees, as we read in the Gospel of Mark (Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23), Jesus calls them hypocrites:
“These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines and human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
Then, Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them,
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.
“From within people, from their hearts,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”
Christ told the crowds that what matters is the heart before God. Eating with unwashed hands or using unwashed vessels for drinking does not defile a man. It is from our innermost self that defilement appears. Every severe sin against God and neighbor has its beginning within a man.
Finally, full of pride, the Scribes and Pharisees nailed Christ to the cross.
Ave Maria!
Jesus, I Trust In You!
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
To Jesus through Mary!
+ Mikel Amigot | RosaryNetwork.com, New York
