Faith-Heartfelt religion-Our Lady of Lourdes

HOMILY WEEK 05 02 – Year II

Worship from the Heart:

Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes

(1 Kg 8:22-30; Ps 84; Mk 7:1-13)

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Did you notice that the word “heart” is mentioned in all three readings today? “Your servants who walk before you with all their heart” in the first reading; “My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God” in the psalm, and twice in the gospel, “..it enters, not the heart but the stomach” and “It is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come.”

The readings, and this memorial, invite us to worship God from the heart, genuinely and sincerely.

Today’s first reading relates the dedication of the temple and King Solomon’s prayer on that occasion, in which he praises God and asks God to dwell in the temple and remain with the people “who walk before God with all their heart.”

That phrase, and Solomon’s prayer, take on an ironic tone as we know that in actuality, the people were never faithful to the covenant, always wanted land, prestige and power, and Solomon’s own behavior was anything but faithful. One could say that Solomon and the people were not sincere in keeping the law of love, and started to depend only on external sacrifice rather than inner commitment and loving action.

From the time of Solomon to Jesus’ day – the temple worship had degraded into an externalist, sacrificial-based superficial-faith religion. As the reading yesterday put it, “sacrificing so many sheep and oxen they could not be numbered.” The temple and priesthood literally became a matter of butchery, and not really worshipping from the heart.

Turning to the gospel, the Pharisees, whose goal was to keep the law perfectly, criticized Jesus and his disciples for not following the Jewish traditions slavishly. Jesus points out their hypocrisy, especially regarding how they twist the scriptures to avoid caring for their own parents. His message is clear – God dwells not in buildings but in the human heart, and we must worship God not with bloody sacrifices, many rituals and prayers, but from the heart and with genuine caring and compassion.

External religion or religion from the heart – that is our decision. It is far easier to find God in temple and tabernacle, then in the messiness of everyday life and imperfect people, yet that truly is where the primary presence of Jesus is to be recognized. If we can’t see Jesus in others, we may not be really seeing him in the tabernacle or chapel either, no matter how many pious hours we spend there.

Abe was struggling with a member of his group, who was treating him with disdain. When he attempted to find out if he had done anything to provoke that treatment, the other person replied that everything was fine – he just went to the chapel and prayed to Jesus. Abe expressed in frustration he knew that Jesus was in the chapel and the tabernacle, but he needed that person to communicate with Jesus in him, to help resolve this painful situation.

Worshipping from the heart means that we are “single-minded” and make Jesus the center and main priority of our lives. An insight that came to me recently was anytime we say “no” to the temptation of an over-attachment to possessions and pleasure, fame and prestige, power and control, we say “yes” to experiencing joy and to a closer relationship with Jesus who dwells within us.

Today’s optional memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes invites us to be serious about our faith in Jesus, put him first in our lives, and find him in others, as did Mary.

The Living With Christ, in its commentary on this memorial, informs us that in 1858 Mary the Mother of Jesus appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in a cave at Massabielle, near Lourdes in France. Just four years earlier, in 1854, the church had declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, so when the “beautiful woman” of Bernadette’s visions identified herself as the Immaculate Conception there was initial skepticism. Although others accompanied Bernadette to the grotto, no one else could see or hear the visions.

However, it did not take long for an Episcopal Commission, an official inquiry, to say: “We judge that Mary the Immaculate Mother of God, did really appear to Bernadette Soubirous on February 11^th, 1858 and on certain subsequent days, 18 times in all, in the Grotto of Massabielle, near the town of Lourdes, and that this appearance bears every mark of truth.” A few years later, this date was added to the list of Marian feasts to honor the mysterious beauty of the Immaculate Conception.

Since that time, millions of people have made a pilgrimage to Lourdes, with hundreds receiving physical as well as other kinds of healing. One person who witnessed such a healing was Fr. Lucien Larré, who recounts in a mission talk, how he with great doubt accompanied a woman religious confined to a wheel chair, to Lourdes. After a few days in Lourdes, suddenly she shocked him by standing up and getting out of her wheel chair. That healing proved to be genuine over the next few months, as she resumed her ordinary life and even skated when winter came!

The Eucharist is truly worship from the heart. Pray that it may empower us to live out our faith as did Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes.