The hidden heart

Wash your hands before you eat!  How many times as a child did you hear those words?  Or, as a parent, how many times did you shout them to your own children.  “Wash your hands before you eat”.  And of course, they would look and examine their hands and say, “why, they’re not dirty”. To them, they probably didn’t look dirty, but we all know the germs, the hidden bacteria that makes a home on our hands. So, we wash our hands before we eat so we don’t get sick.
In Jesus’ time the washing of the hands was not so much in the interests of hygiene, but it was a ceremonial cleanliness that was at stake, hands washed and must be washed in a certain way.  The water for the washing was actually kept in a special jug, not just any water that they found in a nearby well.
This ceremony had to be so exact to the Jewish people that one time a rabbi who once omitted to the washing was buried in excommunication.
Jesus was trying to make a point, it’s not the ritual that makes us clean, but what’s in our hearts. Yes, clean and examine your hands before you eat, but more importantly than anything else, examine your heart. It is your heart that will condemn you, not how clean your hands are. Look deep into your heart.
And one of the most difficult things to do is to figure out ourselves, to get deep into our own turmoil and confusion; our own interior pain and see the things that others don’t.
Take a moment each day. Find a quiet place, your inner room and make a true examination of conscience. Allow it to reveal your inner most thoughts, your true feelings. That takes courage. But, knowing ourselves can be the radar needed to avoid the near temptations to sin, or make corrections on the road we are travelling.
So, cleanse your heart with prayers each day, confessing to God your faults and omissions as well. Bring God into a pure heart and then together you can feast on his graces.