by Fr. Tommy Lane
This people honors me
with their lips,
but their hearts are
far from me.
What Isaiah said centuries previously, Jesus said applied also to the scribes and Pharisees criticizing his disciples (Mark 7:6). There was a disconnect between the Pharisees’ profession of faith and what was in their hearts.
We have come here to honor and worship God with our lips, and we hope our hearts are not far from God. Yet there are people, maybe many people in every parish, who struggle with or doubt that God really has time for them, that God means them well, that God loves them, that God forgives them, that God values and cherishes them. It may go back to a trauma they suffered in the past still in need of healing or may be due to seeing someone close to them suffering. They go to Mass every Sunday and yet sometimes struggle to trust in God’s goodness. Anyone could struggle in this way in the face of suffering that comes our way or whatever cross gets laid on our shoulders. We honor God with our lips and our heart sometimes struggles to catch up.
What is the problem? We find it difficult to trust fully in God and God’s love for us and God’s Providence for us. St. Thérèse of Lisieux said her only guide was abandonment to God (Story of a Soul p130). Jacques Philippe, a contemporary French spiritual writer that I like a lot wrote:
How many young people, for example, hesitate to give their lives entirely to God because they do not have confidence that God is capable of making them completely happy. And they seek to assure their own happiness by themselves and they make themselves sad and unhappy in the process. . . It is, however, marked with this distrust that we come into this world. This is the original sin. And all our spiritual life consists precisely in a long process of reeducation, with a view to regaining that lost confidence, by the grace of the Holy Spirit who makes us say anew to God: Abba, Father! (Searching for and Maintaining Peace p33)
Philippe goes on to write that the more we abandon ourselves to God, the more we will have interior peace. (p42) Abandoning ourselves to God does not mean that God will take everything away from us; it refers to our attitude, an attitude of detachment, realizing that our salvation comes from God and not from our ourselves, that our happiness comes from God and that we cannot manufacture our happiness. In The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena, we read these words from God to her:
It seems they do not believe that I am powerful enough to help them, or strong enough to aid and defend them against their enemies, or wise enough to enlighten their understanding, or merciful enough to want to give them what is necessary for their salvation, or rich enough to enrich them, or beautiful enough to give them beauty, or that I have food to feed them or garments to reclothe them. (Paulist Press edition 1980, p287)
If in any way we see those words reflected in our life, there are some beautiful passages in Scripture that would help us a lot. Just one is “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.” (Ps 23:1) How much more peace we would have in the world if everyone took that seriously. St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote in her autobiography Story of a Soul:
Now I have no desire left, unless it be to love Jesus. . . Now, the spirit of self-abandonment alone is my guide. I have no other compass, and know not how to ask anything with eagerness, save the perfect accomplishment of God’s designs upon my soul. (Burns & Oates edition 1910, p130)
When suffering comes, our faith in God can be challenged but suffering does not mean we or those around us who suffer have been abandoned by God. It is natural to feel compassion for those who suffer but God still loves them infinitely more than we do. This verse from Isaiah reminds us that no matter what, God has not abandoned us: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.” (Isa 49:15)
Some people beat themselves up interiorly after sin and it damages their trust in God and they hide from God like Adam and Eve in the garden after their sin (Gen 3:10). Of course we must try not to sin, but we also need to trust that God can bring a good result if we cooperate with God. That is not a reason to sin because sin is sin and always an offense to God and damages us. Again Philippe has helpful thoughts:
God, once we return to Him with a contrite heart, is able to cause good to spring forth, if only to make us to grow in humility and to teach us to have a little less confidence in our own strength and a little more in Him alone. . . Accordingly, after committing a fault of whatever kind, rather than withdrawing into ourselves indefinitely in discouragement and dwelling on the memory, we must immediately return to God with confidence and even thank Him for the good that His mercy will be able to draw out of this fault! (Searching for and Maintaining Peace p64)
There was a disconnect between the Pharisees’ profession of faith and what was in their hearts. Jesus said they honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from him. We have come here to worship and praise and thank God. Some may sometimes struggle with believing God loves them and cherishes them. The journey of our spiritual lives is a journey to arrive at inner peace by trusting completely in God. As St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote, “the spirit of self-abandonment alone is my guide.”
(Philipp’s book above, Searching for and Maintaining Peace, published by St. Paul’s / Alba House, provided inspiration and ideas for the direction of this homily in, among other things, quotations from St. Thérèse of Lisieux and St. Catherine of Siena though I used my translations to hand.)
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2024
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Twenty-Second Sunday of Year B
Being friends with God by living his commandments 2021
Jesus’ prescription for holiness and purity 2012
The commandments: God’s navigational guidance
Related Homilies: Eat what you want but love your neighbor! 2011
Food laws annulled 2019
The ten commandments forming our conscience
stories about the commandments