Readings: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8, Psalm 14(5):2-5, and James :1-8, 21-2, 27, Mark 7:1-8, 1-15, 21-23

By Lucina Montague, OP

There could be no better way to start a new season than by reading the Scripture for today. God’s Law and God’s love are brought together in a way that is warm, reassuring, and full of common sense. St Thomas’s definition of the virtue of epiekeia or equity comes to mind: equity or epiekeia is understood as not only an action but also a virtue. Individuals who possess the virtue of equity have the stable disposition to “set aside” the letter of the law in order to “follow the dictates of justice and the common good” (STll-ll 120,a, 1).

In Deuteronomy, Moses talks about customs, laws and life. He is very definite about not taking away or adding to what he gives, just keep the commandments of the Lord ‘as I lay them down for you’. The consequence is a great nation, a people close to God, unlike the other nations.

The psalm draws a picture of an ideal life, just, happy, close to God. St James is his usual practical self: practise what you preach! And the practise of pure, unspoilt religion is very practical indeed!

Christ is no less practical in the Gospel reading, scathing about what has been added to the original law, become tradition, and thus overshadowed what really matters, to the extent that the wonderful, broad, magnanimous, all-enveloping love of God and neighbour is forgotten, replaced by preoccupation with trivia, with ‘observance’.

So let us start our autumn or spring and prepare for the next season by reminding ourselves about the open, welcoming, free life to which we are called, guided by the signposts and encouragement given to us throughout Scripture, and in particular in today’s readings.