Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 2, 2022
Some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,
“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?
They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal.”
He summoned the crowd and said to them, “Hear and understand.
It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles the man;
but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”
Then his disciples approached and said to him,
“Do you know that the Pharisees took offense
when they heard what you said?”
He said in reply, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted
will be uprooted.
Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind.
If a blind man leads a blind man,
both will fall into a pit.”
When the Pharisees attempt to discredit Jesus, they point out a missing practice they interpret as a requirement of the law of Moses. Jesus offers a simple rebuttal, “It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles the man; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”
Christ’s words demand that we do more than repeat the acts of those before us. Rather, we are called to understand our adopted practices and be intentional in our words and actions.
I can see echoes of this passage in my recent experiences as an orthopedic surgery resident. I have immense gratitude and respect for the lessons passed down from senior to junior residents—a form of oral tradition. However, since becoming a senior resident, I have felt more driven to study the lessons I have learned before passing them down. Why?
Assuming, without question, the knowledge given by previous senior residents compromises the care I deliver to my patients and the teaching I provide to junior residents.
Like residency, tradition plays a valuable role when determining what actions to take when carrying out God’s will. However, we must also seek to understand the why behind it, or else, like the blind leading the blind, we can misdirect others.
This reading is a powerful reminder that we must continually challenge our daily routines and personal beliefs so that we do not succumb to the temptation of blindly following tradition. Hopefully, this questioning can allow us and those we guide to avoid falling into the pits that prevent us from fully realizing God’s call for our lives.
Prayer
Dear Lord, you were the ultimate teacher—you taught with such authority. Teach us to be filled with you; emptied of an ego that puts our glory over your glory. Let us be your ambassador; give us your voice and direct our motives this day.
Saint of the Day
St. Peter Julian Eymard’s devotion to the Eucharist led him to an active life of love of God and neighbor. He was a contemporary of Blessed Basil Moreau, and both priests sought to revive the Church in the wake of the French Revolution.
Peter Julian was born in 1811 to a poor family just after the Revolution. Peter decided to become a priest and joined the seminary against his family’s wishes. He soon got sick, however, and had to withdraw from his studies—he never fully recovered his health.
A few years later, he tried again and was successful in his training—he was ordained a priest in 1834 and joined the Marist Fathers. His life and ministry were marked by a strong devotion to Mary and to the Eucharist, and these were the focus of much of his preaching and teaching.
“We believe in the love of God for us,” he wrote. “To believe in love is everything. It is not enough to believe in the truth. We must believe in love and love is our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. That is the faith that makes our Lord loved. Ask for this pure and simple faith in the Eucharist. Men will teach you, but only Jesus will give you the grace to believe in him. You have the Eucharist. What more do you want?”
With the encouragement of his friend, St. John Vianney, Peter Julian founded two new religious orders dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament. Though the orders struggled at first, they eventually succeeded in bringing about his vision of a united community of people—priests, deacons, sisters, and laypeople—deeply formed by the Mass and prayer before the Eucharist.
Towards the end of his life, he took a long retreat in Rome and received a mystical experience of communion with Christ, which he described in a series of letters and meditative works. He died on this date in 1868 after suffering a stroke in France. His relics rest in the Basilica.
St. Peter Julian Eymard, who loved Christ in the Eucharist, pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Peter Julian Eymard is available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Last accessed March 28, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
