A clean conscience is what God wants
Saint Theresa of Liseux once said that “The value of life does not depend upon the place we occupy, but upon the way we occupy that place.”Over the past few weeks we have read and heard Jesus chastise the Pharisees for placing great importance on outward appearances. They loved to have the place of honor at banquets. They liked to be greeted with respect in the market place. Jesus saw into their minds and hearts. He pointed out the exaggerated importance that they attached to the outward, to the physical.
The Pharisees believed that a man was pure in God’s eyes when he observed the rules of ritual purity, by cleansing the outside of the cup or dish. However, God is interested especially in moral cleanliness, about which the Pharisees gave little thought. A person is clean in God’s eyes when his conscience has been purified of all injustice and immoral behavior.Jesus tells us that we should show compassion, kindness, love and understanding to others. We should help the poor, heal the sick, and lighten the burdens of the afflicted, do good towards others. If we do so, then we will be made clean. Purity, charity, rectitude, love of God and love of our neighbor–these are the things that make us great in the eyes of God.
Life is not about pain and making sure that the “fools of this world” are punished for their sins; life is about love and forgiving those who have trespassed against us. We are all connected to God, our Heavenly Father, but it is our choice to let him come into our lives and to let Him wholeheartedly change us. And just as Christ told the Pharisees that everything inside and outside comes from God, we, as well as all of our possessions, are all a part of God’s wonderful creation. So let us take every opportunity to thank someone, tell someone not only that we love them, but most of all, that God loves them and wants to get to know them. We are all loved and never forgotten by our Heavenly Father. We cannot earn the grace that God has freely given us so let us share it with others.