Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8 / James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27 / Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
It is certainly a good thing in life to have a religion.
Religion teaches us to live good and upright lives, so that we can have peace and happiness.
Religion also teaches us to live in harmony with other people who do not share the same religious beliefs.
Religion also teaches us about the truths of life, and the fundamental truth is love.
In the Catholic religion, we believe that God gave us the 10 Commandments. The Ten Commandments are the Commandments about life and they teach us how to love.
And God even became man in Jesus Christ to teach us how to live life with love.
Essentially, the 10 Commandments teach us the fundamental truth, and that is to love God and to love neighbour.
All the religious practices flow from this fundamental truth. So whether it is worshiping God at Mass, or praying the Rosary, or abstaining from meat on Fridays, all that is done to express our love for God and for neighbour.
In the gospel, the scribes and Pharisees had a contention with some of the disciples of Jesus who were eating with unclean hands.
The act of washing hands before eating is certainly a good practice for hygiene. But a practical hygienic practice was turned into a religious ritual and became a religious tradition.
So, anyone who eats without first carrying out that ritual cleansing of hands is accused of not respecting the tradition of the elders.
When the scribes and Pharisees questioned Jesus about that, He pointed out the motive of such a practice.
Jesus said that such practices are formulated by human impositions that do not express the love for God and neighbour.
Jesus also quoted from the prophet Isaiah, that the Commandment of God was even put aside in favour of human traditions.
So, the fundamental purpose of the Commandment of God was blurred and even lost with the embellishment of elaborate human practices.
There is this story that illustrates the absurdity of human practices that turned into religious rituals.
There is an abbot of a monastery who had a pet cat. But that cat was causing a distraction to the monks during prayer time.
So, as a solution, the abbot tied up the cat during prayer time, and it became a regular practice.
As time went by, the abbot died, and the practice of tying up the cat during prayer time continued.
After some time, the cat died, and the monks then found another cat to tie up during prayer time.
As time passed, the practice of tying up a cat during prayer time became a religious practice. There was even a devotion to the string that is used to tie up the cat, and it became a religious object.
As much as that story sounds absurd, it also makes us think about our understanding of religious practices.
Our religious practices should express our love for God and for neighbour.
Let us remember the fundamental Commandment of God which is love.
May our religious practices express that love for God and for neighbour, and may it also help us to live holy lives.