Twenty-Second Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year B - Dirty Hands And Dirty Thoughts

An illustration for those who deny the reality of concupiscence:

A visitor was once being shown around an art gallery. The gallery contained some beautiful paintings which were universally acknowledged to be masterpieces. At the end of the tour the visitor said, "I don't think much of these old pictures." To which the guide replied, "My good man, these pictures are no longer on trial. But those who look at them are."

The man's reaction was not a judgement on the pictures but on his own pitiful appreciation of art.

In the same way, Jesus is telling the Pharisees and us, that remembering to wash your hands before eating is easy, yet they were criticizing the apostles for doing what is harder, namely, to keep a clean mind by purity of soul. The Pharisees’ logic was: unwashed hands made the food impure, and eating that food made the person impure. Actually, that is way Salmonella bacteria most often happens in restaurants or in food processing plants.

Jesus was not saying “don’t wash your hands,” but rather that the inner enemy of God is lodged within the human heart. In fact, Genesis 6:5 speaks about the human race and that “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”

In fact, the grammar in our Gospel today puts “evil thoughts” at the head of the entire list of sins which follow from it. As Venerable Fulton Sheen noted: “Nothing ever happens in the world that does not first happen inside a mind...”

The remedy is Philippians 4:8-9: “…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things…”

Re: dirty hands vs. dirty thoughts; today, people put their entire moral analysis on intention only, e.g. If my intention is good, I can do it.

The truth is that statutory rape, selling alcohol to minors and driving while intoxicated, and many other offenses are strict liability crimes for which you don't need to have intent to commit.

God works the same way in terms of consequences, regardless of intent. “Telos” is the word in the Bible that means “purpose, intent, goal.” E.g., Bulimia is acting against the telos of eating. 4% die from it, it elevates the risk of suicide, and can cause esophageal cancer.

A couple good questions for us are, “Do we have a telos to orient our beliefs and behavior to God?” Repeated, willful sin is an open door to the enemy, and leads to the bondage of addiction, which is why when repenting, it is good to say, “I renounce _____ this sin in the Name of Jesus.”

We can ask, regarding “telos,” what do my actions “tell me” or “tell-us”? And we usually get good clarity.

The only people that this won’t work for is described in chapter 5 in the "Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous,"

“…men and women who are CONSTITUTIONALLY INCAPABLE OF BEING HONEST WITH THEMSELVES.”

e.g. A woman named Chris C., from Utah, said, “Ten years ago, during my husband’s drinking days, I lost my engagement ring.” I had just washed my hands and fumbled putting my rings back on. The engagement ring bounced once on the counter and then into the flushing toilet. I should have told my husband, but he was so angry when he was drinking that I kept it myself. I went out and bought a new ring, which was similar to, but not the same as mine. My husband never noticed the difference, so I thought I was home free.

However, last week, we were remodeling the bathroom. He had removed the toilet and was talking it out to the garage when we both heard something clinking as he walked. Horrors! Once outside, he broke up the toilet, and, sure enough, my ring bounced out, minus the diamond. Before, I would have made up all sorts of bizarre stories of how the ring got there. But, now, with the help of God, I took a deep breath and said, “Hon, sit down. I need to make amends.” We were able to talk about it without all the baggage of the past and he was not a bit upset. In fact, it seems funny now. I’m grateful to God for my desire to be honest and to face life on life’s terms.

Lastly, “Garbage in; garbage out” means to keep our vision and senses clean clear of garbage so that we will not produce garbage (sinful thoughts) that then will lead to sinful actions.

Saint John of the Cross “teaches that the highest form of communication with God takes place when our five senses are silenced and all that we have learned through them is darkened so that God can communicate to us in a direct and spiritual way.”1