Today’s Gospel contains a challenging teaching from Jesus: "Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things...
Today’s Gospel contains a challenging teaching from Jesus: "Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile." Jesus is telling us that our spiritual health is an "inside job." Sin is not about what we touch or eat; it is about the "evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, and malice" that germinate in the human heart.
In the first reading, the Queen of Sheba travels from the ends of the earth to see Solomon. She is breathless with Wonder at the wisdom and the beauty she finds. She realizes that Solomon's outward wealth is just a reflection of the internal wisdom God gave him. She praises the source of that wisdom.
Today, we turn our eyes to Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1858, Mary appeared to a poor, uneducated girl named Bernadette Soubirous. Mary identified herself as the "Immaculate Conception"—the one who was pure from the very inside, from the moment of her beginning. This wasn't a purity of "clean hands," but a purity of soul.
At Lourdes, Mary told Bernadette to dig in the dirt, and a spring of water gushed forth. That Wellspring became a place of healing for millions. But the physical water is a symbol of the internal grace we all need. We often focus on our outward "Worth"—how we look to others, what we possess, or how well we follow social etiquette. But Mary and Jesus remind us to look at the "spring" inside.
Is the water of your heart clear, or is it muddied by bitterness and pride? On this World Day of the Sick, let us ask Our Lady of Lourdes to lead us to the healing waters of confession. Let us ask the Lord to purify the source, so that what flows out of us—our words, our actions, our thoughts—may be as beautiful and wise as the words that left the Queen of Sheba in awe.
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