We celebrate the Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin, and share this message, “Called to a deeper Consecration to God in purity of heart.”  Beloved, St. Scholastica lived in the 5th and 6th century life of the Church.  She was the twin sister of St. Benedict, Abbot and founder of the Order of St. Benedict (the Benedictines); while Scholastica was the foundress of the Benedictine nuns.  What a tremendous blessing to their family that both sister and brother lived lives dedicated wholly to God! (cf. Luke 11:27).  It was about holiness in body, mind and spirit, embracing the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, obedience. 

Our First Reading (Gen 2:4-9, 15-17) provides us the Second Account of Creation in the Bible.  Just like the First Account, Gen 1:1-31, it relates the pristine state of things before the Fall.  Clearly, from the beginning, God gave us His law, His will, about our relationship with Him and the created order: “You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die.”  This implied a call to holiness; to follow God in humility, obedience, and chastity.  Evidently, holiness does not come from human definition or societal redefinition; holiness flows from God’s will.    

Our Gospel Passage (Mark 7:14-23) shows Jesus – as God-Man – teaches us how to attain the life of holiness and purity, saying: “Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” This teaching was revolutionary; a change in direction from the teachings and practices promoted by the Pharisees and Scribes at the time, with too much emphasis on the external – ritual purifications and public displays of piety (cf. Matt 6:1-8; Mark 7:1-6). Christ is emphasizing a profound spiritual relationship (cf. John 4:24-25), which transcends physical actions and scrutinizes the motive of the actions.  As He puts it, “Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside… enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine? But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him…. evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.”  In this new relationship in spirit, what we eat or drink does not really defy us.  As St. Paul would say, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1Cor 10:31). 

Finally, St. Scholastica understood that God knows everything and will judge even the secret intentions of the human heart (cf. 1Sam 16:7; Heb 4:12). Therefore, we are to guard against harboring evil in our hearts and minds; our faith must be sincere and transparent: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt 5:8).  One may actually commit a mortal sin even without any physical action.  Once a person has contrived and consented to the evil deed in the heart, the person has already committed the sin (cf. Job 31:1; Matt 5:27-28), even if the material circumstance makes it impossible for the person to follow through physically with the evil deed.  May God give us the grace to always seek the life of obedience and holiness from the heart, through Christ our Lord. Amen.