YEAR OF MISSION : TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

After having been nourished on those Eucharistic readings from John’s Gospel we return to Mark’s Gospel and to Jesus, who finds himself (not surprisingly) at loggerheads with some of the religious leaders. What seems to have become important are the little things, the customs and the traditions, and eyes have been taken off what it is that makes these customs and traditions meaningful. There may be a simple invitation from today’s gospel - that we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. If we don’t, we are in danger of losing sense of what is important in our lives of faith. At the heart of God’s word is the invitation to love – to be loved by love itself. The Law of the Lord is the lived expression of how we shape our lives according to that love which we have received. Let’s keep our eyes fixed upon the one who reveals love to us – Jesus. Let’s allow his love to shape the way we live and the way we love so that rather than us being seen as hypocrites, as mere actors, the love we receive is a love that is echoed through our thoughts, our words and, indeed, our actions.