That Which Comes Forth From Us

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark

     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 summoned the crowd again and said to them,
     “Hear me, all of you, and understand. 
     Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
     but the things that come out from within are what defile.
     “From within people, from their hearts,
     come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
     adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
     licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
     All these evils come from within and they defile.”

     I feel like in 10 years or so, people will look back at Facebook’s comment section in the same way that most people today view smoking cigarettes (just say no!). One can’t help but notice how the social media experiment is making us very comfortable with using divisive language that pulls and tears each of us further apart from the other, both physically and ideologically. We can be very quick to tear apart an opposing viewpoint or demonize other groups entirely without ever considering how our own group(s) is also culpable for the current status quo. Most of us would agree that the culture seems to be becoming more divided and more negative on seemingly every new issue; however, have we stopped to ask recently how we, ourselves, are adding to that division through what comes out of us?

     I humbly pose the question of: what good is our opinion or our “reaction” if it tears down more than it builds up? I can paint every inch of Tiger Stadium with every problem in the world and who I think is responsible (with no room to spare) but without a call to unity, charity or mercy, not to mention the willingness to be patient with one another while we all work through these issues together, what good will it do? Likewise, what good is our stance on an issue if that stance forces us into a position where we fail to see the humanity and the dignity of the human person across from us? I’m not saying we should be tolerant of injustice or be complacent with evil, but what I am saying is that our reaction, or what comes out of us as a result of perceived injustice, cannot also be a response of injustice towards our fellow brother or sister or else we are destined for even greater evils should this trend continue. 

     A quote that has stood out to me recently has been “truth without love is brutality and love without truth is hypocrisy.” This quote is attributed to Baptist preacher and writer, Warren W. Wiersbe. I think most of us have experienced some share of both brutality and hypocrisy in the current cultural climate as of late which stems from either the absence of truth or the absence of love in some capacity. It can be quite overwhelming and disheartening at times, especially after having gone through this past year like we all have. 

     I humbly implore you to help break this cycle of brutality and hypocrisy to the best of our abilities by doing what St. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4 and that is to “[speak] the truth in love.” (Eph. 4:15). It is insanely difficult to try and reason someone out of a position that they did not, necessarily, reason themselves into in the first place. In the current media climate where new details emerge by the minute, most of us don’t have the full picture of knowledge to base our decisions off of. That is why no matter what our position/opinion is, it must be given within the context of love (caritas) or out of a response to the call to love.

     The catch here is this: when giving out of love, we must let go of the assumption that it will be well received. Just because we call others to charity, doesn’t mean they will always respond. We cannot control everything, but we can call others to a higher good in the moment through our own witness and actions. This can be painful because there are a lot of opinions contrary to our own. Let us choose to remember, for example, that in our conversations about the current situation, neither the pandemic nor its effects will be that which defiles us. Rather, what we choose to do at the moment in our response to one another as members of the body of Christ will determine whether it was given in love.

     Do others understand we see them, desire to know them, and love them, or are we choosing to shut out anyone who disagrees with us out of our lives? Are we responding to the requests of others with charity or are we simply thinking about ourselves? Are we respecting the boundaries of one another, especially the boundary of someone’s personal integrity, or are we trying to enforce our belief system at all costs? Like all virtue, the call to love is one that finds balance in between the extremes. There must be a balance not only in what we choose to do but also in our call to others as well. It is in this balance that we can most closely align ourselves with St. Paul’s call to the Ephesians. 

     Pope Benedict XVI says in his encyclical Caritas in Veritate “In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan.” That is why the closer we are to the Lord, the closer to truth and love we will also be. For in Christ, truth and love become evident to us because it has a face, it has an identity and it has a personal call to go and do likewise. There have been a lot of failures, and there will be plenty more, but by the grace of our Lord, let us not fail to answer the vocation to love when it matters most. Let us not forget to be patient with one another while each of us do our best to sort through the madness and let us not allow for truth to be uncoupled to love during this time or vice versa. Above all, let us not lose hope that The Lord is over this issue and in time, the right course that each of us are called to walk will be revealed to us if we stay close to the one who is truth and the one who is love. 

      I leave you with this quote from Pope Benedict XVI from his encyclical Caritas in Veritate:

     “Only in truth does charity shine forth, only in truth can charity be authentically lived. Truth is the light that gives meaning and value to charity. That light is both the light of reason and the light of faith, through which the intellect attains to the natural and supernatural truth of charity: it grasps its meaning as gift, acceptance, and communion. Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way.”


About the Author: West Giffin is the Associate Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry (Red Stick Catholics) at the Diocese of Baton Rouge. West grew up in Baton Rouge and was an active participant in youth ministry programs during middle and high school and these communities allowed him to find true community and foster a personal encounter with Christ. Before working at the Diocese, West brought his love for fostering faith-based communities to Most Blessed Sacrament parish, where he was the youth minister for four years. When West isn’t working or pursuing his Master of Art degree in Pastoral Leadership from Notre Dame Seminary Graduate School, he can be found spending quality time with his son, Mason.

Learn More About Red Stick Catholics

The Well is a weekly reflection series from Red Stick Catholics that was created to allow young adults from the Diocese of Baton Rouge to reveal how God is speaking to them through prayer and Scripture. Each reflection contains the upcoming Sunday’s Gospel, a reflection written by a young adult from the Diocese of Baton Rouge and prompts for how to pray with the Gospel and reflection during the week. If you are interested in writing a reflection, please email Nicole at [email protected].