Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

(Optional Memorial for Saint Jerome Emiliani, Priest) 
 
Proper readings for the Memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani
 
Biographical information about St. Jerome Emiliani 
 
or
 
(Optional Memorial for Saint Josephine Bakhita, Virgin) 
 
Proper readings for the Memorial of St. Josephine Bakhita
 
Biographical information about St. Josephine Bakhita

“Solomon Dedicates the Temple at Jerusalem”
by James Tissot, c. 1896-1900

 
Readings for Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading I: 1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30
 
Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD
in the presence of the whole community of Israel,
and stretching forth his hands toward heaven,
he said, “LORD, God of Israel,
there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below;
you keep your covenant of mercy with your servants
who are faithful to you with their whole heart.
 
“Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth?
If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you,
how much less this temple which I have built!
Look kindly on the prayer and petition of your servant, O LORD, my God,
and listen to the cry of supplication which I, your servant,
utter before you this day.
May your eyes watch night and day over this temple,
the place where you have decreed you shall be honored;
may you heed the prayer which I, your servant, offer in this place.
Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel
which they offer in this place.
Listen from your heavenly dwelling and grant pardon.”
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Commentary on 1 Kgs 8:22-23, 27-30
 
King Solomon concludes the dedication of the temple with theological wisdom. He tells the priests and people who believed that God had come to reside “completely and solely present” in the temple that this was not so.  Rather he says that God was omnipresent. “’Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth? If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built!’” He continues his prayer of intercession asking that God hear the prayers of the people offered there and grant them mercy as they repent and atone for their sins.
 
CCC: 1 Kgs 8:10-61 2580
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 84:3, 4, 5 and 10, 11
 
R. (2) How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
 
My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
 
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young—
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God!
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
 
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
O God, behold our shield,
and look upon the face of your anointed.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
 
I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
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Commentary on Ps 84:3, 4, 5 and 10, 11

Psalm 84 is a hymn in praise of the temple, a song of Zion. The psalmist sings of the joy felt by the faithful who can spend time with the Lord in his house. It is a hymn for those who depend on God (Blessed they who dwell in your house!). This selection captures the reverence for the temple that is part of the Hebrew tradition, a tradition carried on in part by reverence to church structures today.
 
CCC: Ps 84:3 1770
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Gospel: Mark 7:1-13
 
When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
(For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders.
And on coming from the marketplace
they do not eat without purifying themselves.
And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.)
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” 
He responded,
“Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites,
as it is written:
 
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
In vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
 
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
He went on to say,
“How well you have set aside the commandment of God
in order to uphold your tradition!
For Moses said,
Honor your father and your mother,
and Whoever curses father or mother shall die.
Yet you say,
‘If someone says to father or mother,
“Any support you might have had from me is qorban”’
(meaning, dedicated to God),
you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother.
You nullify the word of God
in favor of your tradition that you have handed on.
And you do many such things.”
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Commentary on Mk 7:1-13
 
We begin the seventh chapter of Mark’s Gospel with an encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus’ disciples are not following strict Pharisaic laws regarding ritual purification and the Lord, who is their teacher, is taken to task for it. Jesus responds indignantly, asserting that it is the Pharisees with their man-made laws who are sinning against God. He points out that not only have they placed Pharisaic law above Mosaic Law (see also Galatians 1:14), but they have violated the Law of Moses by doing so. He gives one example about children who, under Mosaic Law, are to honor and support their parents. Instead of supporting them directly, they satisfy their obligation by contributing it to the temple and count that as support, even though it gives the parents no comfort.
 
CCC: Mk 7:8-13 2196; Mk 7:8 581
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Reflection
 
Captured within Sacred Scripture today is the tension that exists between formal worship and living the faith in the world.  In the reading from the First Book of Kings, Solomon demonstrates the wisdom he was given by God (1 Kings 3:9ff) by dispelling a long held belief.  From earliest times it was thought that God was present in smoke or fog and that his presence was announced in earth tremors.  The belief the Levites had held was that, since the temple was to be the permanent resting place for the Ark of the Covenant, God would dwell there, to the exclusion of his omnipresent essence.  Solomon makes it clear that the temple he has built is a place where God’s presence may be felt, but that God is greater than any man-made structure can contain.
 
At a more esoteric level, the encounter between the Pharisees and Jesus in St. Mark’s Gospel centers on a tangential issue.  The Pharisees are complaining about Jesus’ disciples not following the strict rituals associated with Pharisaic law.  They complain to Jesus because his disciples have not done the prescribed rituals of purification and Jesus becomes indignant.  He points out that the Pharisees have missed an important element of worship.  They have focused so much on ritual that they have missed God’s real message of love for his people.
 
There are a few lessons we can take away from these attempts to discern how God wishes to be worshiped.  First, we must recognize that while a church building is a sacred space, God’s presence is universal.  At the same time we also recognize that coming together to worship our Triune God in a house of worship, by way of his promise that where two or three are gathered in his name he will be present (Matthew 18:20), assures us of his palpable presence.
 
The Gospel message is also clear.  Jesus reminds us that the objective of worship must be to fulfill God’s commandments.  Most specifically, Christ commands us to love God (which we do in formal liturgy), and love one another, which is something we must do even as we walk in the world.
 
The two linked lessons we are given today assure us that our obligation to God has two parts.  First, we are called to come together as a people of faith in a house of God to worship him.  It is part of our discipline of faith.  Second, we are tasked with taking our faith into the world so that all people may benefit from God’s love, passed first to us so it may be passed on to others.  Scripture challenges us today; may we be up to that challenge.
 
Pax

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[1] The picture is “Solomon Dedicates the Temple at Jerusalem” by James Tissot, c. 1896-1900.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.