22nd Sunday, Cycle B.

Formation of the Christian subject today, cannot mean more moralism .

The Pharisees draw Christ's attention to the washing of pots. His attention however is on a far great problem. Sin has created a crisis in our hearts, and Christ promises the redemption of the heart.

In the Fall the human heart became self-focussed – for self-protection. Human beings can easily swop the things of life, the customs that we make and acquire, for the Word of God, and that these things then become our focus – what our hearts make for themselves. Christ in this segment of the Gospel is very strong in what he says about the human heart – that left to itself the human heart accuses and condemns itself. But it is this heart that he calls to; He wants to be alive in our hearts. So, in the formation of the Christian subject today, that process begins not with another set of rules or formulas, but with the opening of the heart by the announcement of the Gospel, and by an encounter with Christ. This is the way to the redemption of the heart and the building up of the person. I will speak about the basic vision and plan we now have in the parish, building upon Fr James Mallon's Divine Renovation, for the formation of the Christian subject.