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Dear St. Augustine's 'ohana,
It was quite a scandal. Temple officials from Jerusalem observe some of Jesus' disciples breaking a tradition of the elders. This week's gospel story says the disciples were "eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them." (Mark 7:2) There were rules about eating with unwashed hands, eating unwashed food, and eating food made in unwashed cookware—rules that kept outside corruption from coming in and compromising one's soul.
In Jesus' time, such rules were ritualized, kept as sacred traditions for generations. Today, we mostly know cleaning routines not as cultural tradition but as a practical method to eliminate disease-causing pathogens.
For Jesus and the disciples, breaking tradition was a radical move that caused a scandal. When confronted about about it, Jesus takes the opportunity to teach. Turning to nearby crowds, he delivers his lesson:
preventing outside corruption is the wrong focus. Growing inner goodness is the right focus.
Back then, this was a counter-cultural idea. And it still is. Today, many believe that blocking outside influences from their lives will do more to help the world than attending to their inner goodness.
I get it! It's often easier to blame external influences for our problems. Playing the blame game allows us to throw up our hands and say, "See? It's not my fault. I can't control any of it, so I give up!" Our news cycle features scandals that capture our attention and divert our energy from doing the real soul work. When we spend time pointing fingers and blaming the "bad people," we spend less time on inner reflection.
Jesus would have us looking inside our own lives to examine our thoughts, actions, intentions, and motivations. Rather than working hard to keep external influences out, he encourages us to look deeply at what we nurture inside ourselves and how we might radiate that out in the world.
How can we grow our inner goodness? Self-examination techniques (such as The Daily Examen) can be a positive part of a daily centering prayer or meditation practice. From the web site ignatianspirituality.com: "The method presented here is adapted from a technique described by Ignatius Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises:
1. Become aware of God’s presence.
2. Review the day with gratitude.
3. Pay attention to your emotions.
4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
5. Look toward tomorrow."
Blessings,
Vicar Jennifer
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