Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
“The essential is the interior.” This phrase was the foundation for William Joseph Chaminade’s spirituality and has become a key dynamic within the Marianist Charism. Today’s Gospel reading from Luke and the first reading from Paul’s letter to the Galatians remind us that our faith is not judged based on our ability to follow rules. Instead it is our own ability to nurture the interior so that we may put our faith into action by loving others that is important.
In the first reading, Paul warns the Galatians that resorting our faith to following a list of rules makes faith into a form of slavery. Instead, Paul encourages his followers to exhibit their faith through works of love. In the Gospel reading, Jesus is invited into a Pharisee’s home for a meal and is soon criticized for not following the proper cleansing rituals. At such criticism Jesus retorts that the Pharisee is more worried about appearances than the evil that has consumed him on the inside. It seems as though Jesus is calling him to give primacy to the interior rather than judging others for actions that might not abide by a rule or common practice.
This attention to the interior rings quite true for me as we enter the fall season and my work at the University of Dayton enters the middle of the semester. It’s this time of the year that I start to prepare myself for winter – cleaning up the yard, preparing the plants to endure the harsh winter cold. In some regarding I find myself preparing for the period of waiting that Advent will bring, without jumping too far ahead of myself though. Alongside the need for this preparation, I can easily get caught in the busy-ness of the semester and juggling many different responsibilities at work. So I often feel the gentle (or sometimes harsh) nudge to take a deep breath and give some attention to the interior.
I believe that’s what Chaminade consistently encouraged people to do in order to re-root themselves in relationship with God so they might spread God’s love in their words and actions. These readings seem to do the same. At first glance they may appear to be calling us to give attention to how we treat each other as well as how we nourish ourselves while tossing rules out the window. Instead, these readings demonstrate how rules are necessary to provide a boundary that gives us the freedom of a space to work within – so that we might maintain a balance of nourishing the interior while also engaging our faith into actions through love.
Are you getting caught up in rules and losing sight of the bigger picture? Do you feel a need to nourish the interior? To take some time to reflect, breathe, and sit in God’s grace? Do you allow love to permeate your actions or are you struggling to be loving these days? How might you find the nourishment you need to put God’s love into action?
- Mike Bennett