THE OUTS AND INS
“If you give what you have as alms, all will be wiped clean for you.” –Luke 11:41
Mass Readings: October 11
First: Galatians 5:1-6; Resp: Psalm 119:41,43,45,47-48; Gospel: Luke 11:37-41
After Jesus told the Pharisees to cleanse the inside as well as the outside (Lk 11:39-40), He surprisingly encouraged them to give alms, an external activity. By this, Jesus showed that the way to cleanse the inside can be through the outside. For example, drinking to excess is an outside symptom of an inside problem. However, by dealing with the excessive drinking, you may get to its root and thereby cleanse the inside.
We should ask ourselves which external activities called for by the Church and the Bible disturb us the most inside. Possibly going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a problem for you. Even thinking about external activities like apologizing, sharing our faith, tithing, giving alms, and serving the poor may disturb us. Some of these external activities which are so heart-wrenching can be used by the Lord to cleanse our hearts.
Jesus is saying to us: “If you , all will be wiped clean for you.” How does the Lord want you to fill in the blank of that sentence? What outside act expresses a willingness to be cleansed inside? Something from inside is hanging outside. By God’s grace, pull on it and pull out the impurities from your heart.
PRAYER: “A clean heart create for me, O God” (Ps 51:12).
PROMISE: “It is in the Spirit that we eagerly await the justification we hope for, and only faith can yield it.” –Gal 5:5
PRAISE: Steven finally accepted that sterili
