My dear friends, today we continue our reading of Saint Paul's letter to the Romans, which, as we noted yesterday, is the only letter that he writes before visiting the actual people of Rome. He wrote this from Corinth and during his third missionary journey therein. And yesterday we spoke about how he was introducing himself, the gospel, the truth of the gospel, the salvation God is offering to all men, but that this message of goodness and holiness and generosity on God's part needs to be reciprocated with a worthy response, a response of conversion, conversion of heart.
And in today's reading, we pick up on this again, for Saint Paul speaks of the wickedness of men, a wickedness which, in his words, suppresses the truth. And how often do we fail to convey the truth to others when we're involved in misdeeds, sinful behavior? When we sin, we feel we have to cover things up, hide things. But when we live truly in an authentic relationship with the Father, with our Lord Jesus, with the Holy Spirit, and we allow ourselves to be moved by their counsel, by their guidance, and when we're close to our Blessed Mother through devotions like the Holy Rosary, but just by pouring out our heart to her as our mother, then we do all things in the light.
As Jesus said, nobody takes a light and puts it under a bushel basket, but rather they put it on a pedestal so that it can give light to everyone in the house. And the house that Paul speaks of in today's first reading is the house of God, where we continue to receive the graces, the blessings of God who works within us so that our relationship with him is not merely exterior. It's not merely a matter of fulfilling a certain set of rules or laws, though they are important and though they help us in deepening our interior life and our inner personal relationship with God, for sure.
But sometimes these commandments, these laws can be an excuse for being lax in how truly personal we become with God. And that's what God is looking for — a personal relationship. Because if we just try to do what is good and that will suffice for us, right? Let me just, I'll just try to help the poor and I'll try to do this and that good thing, and, um, you know, try to live honestly, you know, but don't concern myself as much with speaking to the Lord, telling him how much I love him, telling him that whatever comes my way, good or evil, I will continue to remain faithful to him.
Like Job, right? See how Job was not so much attached to the exterior goodness that might come to us, to the exterior good, but rather even in the midst of tribulation, illness, death, hardships unlike any other, he remained faithful. Why? Because there was a true interior disposition towards God.
In today's gospel, Jesus is amazed. He's amazed at the hardness of heart in the Pharisees and how they cleansed the outside of the cup and the dish, in our Lord's words. Yet inside you are filled with plunder and evil. And then Jesus addresses the craziness of this logic. He says, “You fools, did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?”
In other words, we try to cloak ourselves with righteousness, and yet on the inside we're full of judgment, envy, jealousy. Even if we don't express this exteriorly, this is why the Lord says, for example, if a man even looks at a woman and desires her in his heart, he will have already committed adultery with her. In other words, even without speaking to her, without making a move, without making an advance.
Why did Jesus say this? Because it's the interior disposition that counts to God. God searches the depths of our hearts.
My brothers and sisters, let us make it a point today to be good on the inside with God, not merely on the outside. It's important. The outside is important, but not as important as the inside. It's what happens on the inside of our hearts, in our souls and our spirits that can really solidify our relationship with our Lord, which is all-important because it'll have a bearing on everything else in our lives.
And as you continue to journey and you continue to make this effort of conversion, daily conversion, may he, the Lord who loves you, bless you.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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