5th Tuesday in Ordinary Time Feast of Saint Marina IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 7:1-9), the Lord confronts the Pharisees and some scribes on the misguided observation of the tradition of the elders, the set of injunctions and practices that the rabbis added to the Law of Moses. The Jews had so forgotten the heart and spirit of the Law of Moses that the tradition of the rabbi came to be observed not for love but for the sake of it. In the process, they lost their freedom of mind and heart and got enslaved instead into it. In the process, they have forgotten that the tradition had turned into something beneficial for the sake of it, forgetting the place of God in it; worse, they even believed they did it for God. So the Lord reminded them using the words of Isaiah (29:13): "These people honors me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless, the doctrines they teach are only human regulations ." They have forgotten to tea...
My deepest vocation is to be a witness of the glimpses of God I have been allowed to catch. HENRI JOHN M NOUWEN [Thanks to my friend Albert Aballe for providing this quote]