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| One of many ways to live out the 'Tradition' |
(Twenty-second Sunday of the
Year (B): This homily was given on August 30, 2015 at St. Pius X Church,
Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.
Read Mark 7: 1-15.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Twenty-second Sunday 2015]
Make sure your traditions don’t violate the “Tradition”.
That’s the simple message of
today’s homily: Make sure your traditions don’t violate the Tradition
(Tradition there has a capital T, and it means “God’s revealed Truth.”) Traditions, customs, and religious practices
are all acceptable, as long as they do not contradict or undermine the teaching
of Scripture and the Church.
Which
brings us to today’s Gospel text from Mark 7.
Here Jesus encounters the Pharisees, who criticize his disciples for not
following one of their “traditions” (small t) of ritual purification before
eating. Jesus uses the occasion to “let
them have it” (as the old saying goes), pointing out both their hypocrisy and
their warped philosophy. Now I’m not one
who normally criticizes the folks who put together the Lectionary, but I will
today. If you notice, the reference at
the beginning of the Gospel text says Mark, chapter 7, verses 1-8 and verses
14-15. Amazingly, they left out verses
9-13, which are extremely important! Now
since most of you don’t have your Bibles with you, I’ll read the missing
verses.
After saying, “You disregard God’s commandment but cling
to human tradition,” Jesus adds, “How
well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your
tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your
father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother shall die.’ Yet you say, ‘If a person says to father or
mother, “Any support you might have had from me is qorban,” (meaning, dedicated
to God), you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your
tradition that you have handed on. And
you do many such things.”
The 4th commandment (“Honor
your father and your mother”) was part of God’s revealed Truth (in other words,
it was part of the Tradition with a capital T).
But the Pharisees were violating that precept of the Tradition, by
supporting this tradition (small t)—this custom—of allowing children to
“dedicate” money to God, and neglect their parents in the process.
Make sure your traditions don’t violate the “Tradition”.
I mention this today because
we live in a world where it’s very easy for us to become just like these
Pharisees if we’re not extremely careful.
For example: The second
commandment says, “Do not take the name
of the Lord, thy God, in vain.” That
precept, like the 4th commandment and the other commandments of the Decalogue,
is part of the Tradition (capital T). Now
I know people (perhaps you do as well) who never, ever swear or take the Lord’s
name in vain—unless they’re at work or
with a particular group of their friends.
Why only in those places? Well simply because in those locations
everyone around them is using bad language.
Consequently, they end up joining in. You see, at certain places of
employment and in certain social settings using vulgar language has become a
time-honored “tradition” (small t).
You’re not “one of the gang” or “one of the boys” unless every third
word that comes out of your mouth has four letters in it. That’s a perfect example of people laying
aside the Tradition (God’s revealed Truth) for the sake of a foul-mouthed
tradition.
Or how about the 3rd
commandment: “Keep holy the Lord’s day”? I know of entire families who give up Mass
for the summer each and every year. It’s
become a tradition with them. They say
they have too many other important things to do. We’ll be welcoming those people back with us
in the next few weeks. The Tradition
(capital T) goes out the window for the sake of a tradition (small t) of
laziness!
Or take the 5th commandment:
“Thou shalt not kill.” Since 1973, we’ve had a tradition of baby
killing in this country, upheld by law.
I don’t think I need to go into great detail as to how that sordid
tradition (small t) violates the Tradition (capital T) of Jesus Christ.
And now the people of
Planned Parenthood want to add a new tradition to that 40-year-old one by
selling the body parts of aborted babies for profit.
Homosexual activity is clearly
forbidden by the sixth commandment—as are fornication and adultery. But that didn’t stop our Supreme Court from
establishing a new tradition (small t), whereby marriage has been completely
redefined to include same-sex couples. And
so with one stroke of the pen they put in place a new “tradition” which clearly
violates the 2,000-year-old Tradition of Christianity.
The Lord calls us today to
be different! The Lord wants all of us
to establish good, noble, loving
traditions in our lives—traditions which will uphold and promote the authentic Tradition
of Jesus Christ.
Now some of you have already
done this—and are doing it—although you might not realize it. For example, it’s become a “tradition” (has
it not?) for many of you on the first weekend of each month to bring food with
you to church: food that will be given to the needy of our area. That’s a tradition (small t) by which you are
living out the Tradition (capital T) of the Gospel which says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Some of you have similar “traditions” at
Christmas and Thanksgiving whereby you reach out to the poor and less
fortunate. Praise God.
Some among us pray the
Liturgy of the Hours daily, which has special prayers and Scripture readings
for various times of the day. That’s a
tradition (small t) by which you are living out the Tradition (capital T),
which tells us to “pray always.”
Many of you (hopefully all
of you) say Grace before meals—even meals that you take out in
restaurants! That’s a tradition whereby
you live out the Tradition, which tells us to “give thanks always.”
Some of you have a tradition
of monthly or even weekly Confession. Great!
That’s an extremely important way to live out the Tradition, which tells us to “repent” of our sins! That command is found throughout the Old and
New Testaments.
Certain Christians think
that Jesus attacked the Pharisees simply because they had “traditions”—as if all traditions are evil. That’s not true! Everybody has traditions (small t); that is
to say, everybody has customs and activities which are a routine part of their
lives. The key question is: What kind of traditions are they? Are they good or are they bad? In other words, are our traditions violating
the Tradition and leading us to hell, or are they upholding the Tradition and
leading us a little bit closer to heaven?
Let’s pray today that all of
our personal traditions in this life will keep us where we should always want
to be: on the road to God’s eternal kingdom.
