The 22nd Sunday in the Ordinary Season

Today is the 22nd Sunday in the Ordinary Season. I read a very interesting introduction for today's 8:00 am mass courtesy of Sambuhay.

Religious traditions and practices are good, but they should neither be a cover-up nor a substitute for a lack of personal intimacy with the Lord. Otherwise, our religious observance is only for show. Though we give God service with our lips and our actions, our hearts are far from Him. this is hypocrisy, about which the Lord reproaches the religious leaders and the teachers of the Law in today's Gospel.

Let us pray to the Lord for the gift of a simple heart. As we keep His commandments, let not this observance be a reason to look down on others. Faith itself is a gift of God, and we are able to come close to God primarily because of His grace rather than our own personal merits.

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The celebrant said a lot in expounding today's Gospel. One line which caught my attention was what he said about the Canon Law, that despite the details there is in that law, there is one most striking feature or line which says: "The supreme law is the salvation of the soul."