Faith in Action | Sunday Reflection | 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today, on the 22^nd Sunday of the Year, the opening prayer for Mass reminds us of our absolute dependence on God as we turn to Him beseeching that he “nurture in us what is good and, by his watchful care, keep safe what he has nurtured.” Our prayer should always remind us of the constant care God offers us. To support our prayer and our discipleship, today’s scriptures tell us how we should respond to God’s care. We are called to be doers of the word – serving God with integrity and acting justly from a pure heart.

In the First Reading, Moses tells the Israelites to hear and observe the commandments that God gave them, so that they may live and take possession of the blessings He has promised. The vocation of Israel was to be a holy people They were to be a people that gave evidence of their wisdom and intelligence as they lived out the covenant relation with God and observed His commandments. They were supposed to prompt other nations and peoples to see, wonder, and ask, “What great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord God is to Israel?”

In the Gospel, we see Jesus confronted by some religious authorities, who question his disciples’ fidelity to religious laws. Jesus responds with a teaching about motivations, thoughts, and inner working that have the potential of leading us in the wrong direction. Jesus’ response to the Pharisees points out their hypocrisy between what is in their hearts and their strict adherence to the law.

Those who come to faith in Jesus are left in no doubt that discipleship cannot be reduced to performing certain specified external acts. The state of our heart is far more important than the state of our hands, and not just before we eat, but in everything we do.

A generation or two after Jesus’s death and resurrection, James offered practical and pastoral comfort and guidance to those who were striving to follow our Lord. In today’s Second Reading, James’ practical advice is this: “Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” God is the giver of every good gift, and, as the source of all goodness, He showers us with abundant blessings, James exhorts us to welcome God’s word with humility.

Together, all the readings offer us a course of action and response to the challenges we face in our world and in our Church. Our Lord encourages us to check our hearts first – if something is wrong when it happens to us, it is wrong when we permit it to happen to others. Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy and the Responsorial Psalm encourage us to do justice and show those around us the greatness of God. James offers even more specific counsel as he encourages us to care for widows and orphans, that is, those who are most vulnerable ones and whose only hope is in God and in us. Our thinking, our attitude is this: the good gifts and the love that God pours into our hearts is to be humbly and gratefully received and lead us to share what we have received with all of God’s people.

Today, we turn once again to our loving God and pray that He will give us the grace to be faithful to all His commands and help us to understand ever more deeply the values of the heart and the compassion that dwells within – so that His loving presence in us will invite others to His love, healing, and protection.