The WORD today (see http://usccb.org/bible/readings/101414.cfm) reminds me that it is important to keep the inside clean.
It is easy to clean the outside. For example, with 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. That’s why they charge more for detailing and cleaning services, because it is harder and more time consuming than cleaning just the outside of the car.
Today Jesus says in the gospel...
The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees!
Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,
inside you are filled with plunder and evil.
You fools!
Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?
But as to what is within, give alms,
and behold, everything will be clean for you.”
Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,
inside you are filled with plunder and evil.
You fools!
Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?
But as to what is within, give alms,
and behold, everything will be clean for you.”
Being clean inside would eventually be manifested outward.
As with cars, what requires more time and effort, and what is really important, is that we are clean from the inside. This is what Jesus wants us to do and to work on, not the easier exterior cleaning.
Being clean outside does not mean that the inside is clean as well. 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. Jesus wants us to work harder and clean ourselves from the inside. What are our motives as we do these things? Do we do it for show, or because we really love God so much?
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. Thank you for your reminder. 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-
Ps
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