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The Second Vatican Council insisted that all the baptised are called to holiness (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, ‘Lumen Gentium’).  It is not the preserve, as if it ever was, of clergy and religious.  It is the call to the entire People of God.  Today’s readings help to clarify what ‘holiness’ is.  But first some context.  Jesus was a devout Jew.  He would have cherished the ‘Torah’ or law which was more ‘a light that shows the way’ rather than a legal code.  However, Jesus had an issue with “the addition to it of further prescriptions and customs that were not part of the original revelation and which in his view could sometimes work against its’ true purpose” (Brendan Byrne).  Living in the Palestine of Jesus day amongst those who were not part of the covenanted people gave rise to “a host of washings and other rituals of cleanliness which were obligatory after contact with outsiders in the market and other public spheres” (ibid). Thus, Jesus quotes Isa 29:13, ‘This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me’ in challenging those additions to the law which gave the impression that ‘uncleanness’ came from outside.  On the contrary, Jesus turned that understanding on its head.  “Human holiness came from being in contact with God.  Jesus, who was supremely in contact with God, went about touching ‘unclean’ persons like lepers and associating with ‘tax collectors and sinners.’  He did not ‘catch’ uncleanness from them, as though it were a contagious disease.  Rather the ‘flow’ was the other way round: they ‘caught’ holiness and healing from him . . .  Jesus understood true holiness to be essentially inclusive rather than exclusive.  It had to do with God’s reaching out rather than withdrawing to some sacred inner space” (ibid).  Today’s Gospel concludes with a list of matters indicative of a heart not touched by God.  We could also call to mind actions or virtues indicative of true holiness of heart.  In fact, we are a mixture of both.  ‘Holy yet sinful and always in need of reform’ as the Second Vatican Council put it. Back in the seventies American Jesuit Fr John Powell wrote a very popular book, ‘Happiness Is an Inside Job’.  The title suggests that being in touch with the love of God is transformative of our outlook and engagement.  Lord, melt my stubborn heart and will.  Grace me with an awareness of your love that I might be a channel of the same.  Today, Father’s Day we celebrate and pray for all dads, living and dead.  Sharing in God’s creative design we pray in thanksgiving that they have or that they would cherish their dignity and seek to share the inclusive and life-giving flow of God’s love.

Fr John

SACRAMENT OF FIRST EUCHARIST:  As a community, we pray for the students and families in their preparation to receive the Body and Blood of Christ at the table of the Lord

Sacrament of First Eucharist will be celebrated at Holy Trinity Church, Curtin, on Saturday 21st September, and Sunday 22nd September 2024.

For further information contact the Religious Education Co-ordinators at Holy Trinity School and Ss Peter and Paul School or the Parish Office.