AVOID COSMETIC SPIRITUALITY (HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 28TH WEEK IN THE ORDINARY TIME, YEAR II October 2022
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 28th WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR II Gal.5:1-6; Ps.119; Luke 11:37-41 In the first reading of today, St. Paul vehemently deterred the Gentiles from performing circumcision; not because circumcision was awful in itself, but because it was incorrectly raised to the level of a mandatory requirement for redemption. Demanding circumcision, according to St. Paul is tantamount to asserting the Jewish culture for other people who want to submit to the Christian faith. This would unfailingly suggest that Jesus is predominantly for the Jews and that non-Jews are second-class citizens of heaven. Such an impression will contradict the universality of salvation. Hence, for St. Paul, circumcision has no spiritual bearing. Tolerating it does not make one more sacred, just as one does not become less virtuous without it. In the Gospel reading, Jesus chastised the Pharisees who anticipated him to wash firstly before dinner. Jesus was not exceptionally against sanitary strategie...