THREE NOTES ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME. YEAR B.
August 30, 2009.
(1st. Reading Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-8)
(2nd. Reading James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27)
(Gospel Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23)


THREE NOTES ON THE
CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

1. The Christian religion comes from within the person.
By virtue of our acceptance of Christ, we become another Christ for it is Christ who lives in us. Our life becomes an exteriorization of what we have in our hearts, and what comes out from us is Christ himself (but if not, then he will continue to die for us on the cross).

Saint James says: We are "a kind of first fruits of God's creatures" (James 1:18). Christians who have Christ within themselves have the ability to bring the life of Christ out into the world through the testimony of their own life.

2. The Christian religion is not dictated by external commandments.
The enforcement of external commandments always implies an imposition which denies the person the option to accept or reject.

External laws (Civil, religious, political or of any kind) are imposed upon men, and carry a coercive punishment if the law is not accepted. Whether the person is motivated or not, he is obligated to abide by the external law. All imposition hinders the person's spiritual and emotional maturity.

Furthermore, external laws are made by man to address specific historical circumstances. The gospel tells us that the Pharisees, on account of their adherence to external precepts, had completely divorced themselves from God.

3. The Christian religion is not lived for the sake of mere appearances. According to the gospel, the religion of the Pharisees (like the religion of many individuals of our time) is restricted to a series of outward rituals performed to be seen and to give the impression that the ritual in itself and by itself is a manifestation of the life of God.

This approach to religion is incompatible with the Christian religion for it reduces "our life in Christ" to a series of external acts and rituals totally devoid of content.

The rituals of the Christian Church are external expressions of the life of Christ present in Christians who themselves celebrate the gift of Christ's life and their efforts to bring it to all human beings.