Pure unspoilt religion

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B (2 September 2018)

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8

James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

"Pure unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this. Coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world" (James 1:27).

Liam Swords shares an incident that many of us could relate to. "Some years ago I was travelling on a plane from Paris to Dublin. I was seated beside an eighty-year-old man, who was none other than Seán MacBride, winner of both the Nobel and Lenin Peace Prizes. While we were talking, we were approached by a Pakistani girl in her late teens or early twenties. She was crying and seemed desperately in need of help. French immigration officials had put her on the plane to Dublin from where she had been expelled some hours earlier by Irish Immigration who judged her papers inadequate. Now she was returning to Dublin to face the same ordeal once more. Bureaucracy had turned her into a doll or "pass the ball" game. MacBride gently questioned her, eliciting all he needed to know and assured her that he would accompany her to the immigration department. He asked me to come along as well. We were shown into a small waiting-room where we were left unattended for at least an hour. Eventually, a young staffer came to inform us that none of the senior people were available and he had no idea when they would be arriving. He asked us to leave the girl with him promising that her case would be dealt with according to the regulations. MacBride refused, stating that he was now her legal counsel. He was a distinguished international lawyer. The young man left us again, presumably to consult with his unavailable seniors. When he returned his attitude had become noticeably more conciliatory. He promised that overnight hotel accommodation would be provided for the girl while a decision was being reached. But MacBride would not be fooled by such assurances. He refused to leave the airport unless the girl was officially released into his custody. After much to-ing and fro-ing, his demand was finally conceded. At this stage we had been detained almost three hours. The last I saw of them was a little old man, clutching his duty-free, leaving the airport with a tall sari-clad Pakistani girl whom he was taking to his own home."

What the Apostle James writes in his epistle can be applied to the above incident. "Pure unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world." Beyond human traditions and customs, we need to give space to God's will and his commandments. Jesus in today's gospel is vociferous: "You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition." Mere external observance is not sufficient to be faithful to God. The whole point of religion is to worship God with a sincere heart. Beyond the Sunday and regular obligations, and the various commissions and omissions, Christianity is about allowing the Spirit of God to reign in our hearts, and through us in the whole wide world.

So we could ask ourselves these questions: Is my religion restricted to the four walls of my parish church? How do I help out those people who are in need? Moreover, am I able to go beyond the confines of my religion or my customary thinking to help out people, as would the Good Samaritan? Are there any human traditions in my own culture that go against God? Am I able to go beyond human considerations and calculations to give space to the divine? Do I put my heart and soul into worshipping God or is it only lip-service?

May God be the motivating energy of our hearts!