This coming Sunday is the 22nd Sunday. In yesterday’s post we addressed the topic of Sacred Tradition and its role within the Catholic Church – as a prelude to the gospel for this week when the topic of the “tradition of the elders” is part of the dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees/scribes.

1 Now when the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. 3 (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. 4 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).)

Continue reading →