From the Inside Out

The WORD today (see http://usccb.org/bible/readings/082713.cfm) reminds me that we should clean ourselves from the inside going out. 

It is easy to clean the outside. For example, cars. There are a lot of carwash which provide cleaning services. You don't even need to go to a carwash. You can clean the car at home, and it won't take a lot of time and effort. However, what requires more time and effort is cleaning the inside of the car - the interior, the engine, among other things. 

Today Jesus says in the gospel...

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,

but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.

Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,

so that the outside also may be clean.”

As with cars, what requires more time and effort, and what is really important, is that we are clean from the inside. Being clean inside would eventually be manifested outward. 

It is easy to seem clean. It's easy to go to the church, go to outreach activities and relief operations, help the less fortunate. It's easy to show others you go to mass, confess and serve. However, this does not guarantee the inner state of the person. 

May we work to have a clean heart, a clean spirit first. Clean and pure motives and intentions. May we pray for these, so that eventually, these things will be manifested in our actions. 

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Lord, I pray that you help me have a clean heart. Purify my thoughts, purify my spirit, purify my heart, so that my actions would follow what is inside me. Amen. 

Blessed day!

In Christ,

-g-