Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
October 11, 2022
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Luke 11:37-41
The Pharisee who had invited Jesus to dinner is scandalized because Jesus does not observe the Jewish custom of hand washing before the meal. Jesus responds with teaching that applies both to the Pharisees and to us.
Jesus says that our religious practices must come from the heart. Prayer, Scripture reading, charitable works, ritual observances are all merely superficial unless they arise both from the love of our hearts and the deliberation of our minds.
Good works without good intentions are hypocrisy. Good intentions without good works are simply wishful thinking. Jesus calls for both good intentions and good works because he is Lord of both heart and action. How much of my life is action? How much is intention? What’s the relationship between them?
