All of this weekend’s readings explain what” true religion” is. It is not simply an external observance of rules, laws, traditions and rituals. It is a loving, obedient relationship with God, expressed in recognizing His presence in other human beings and offering them loving and humble service. IT’S ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS!!! All of the prayers, rituals, sacraments and religious practices in our Church are intended to help us to practice this “true religion” in our daily lives, that is, loving one another. The Gospel explains the encounter of Jesus with the Sanhedrin observers and the Pharisees who had been sent to assess Jesus’ controversial teachings and His unique and “blasphemous’ claims and open violation of the “Traditions of the Elders.” Jesus uses the occasion as a “teachable moment” to give them the following lessons: (listen up because we all need to hear this lesson over and over in our lives) don’t get caught up in laws at the risk of hurting people…what is in the heart is more important than externals…keep your heart holy and open to God…external “piety” without internal holiness is hypocrisy. None of us likes being referred to as a hypocrite. To be honest, that label makes me cringe. What makes a person holy and not a hypocrite are the attitudes and actions that Paul in Gal 5:22-23 lists as “the fruit” of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Let’s all concentrate on making a place for these virtues in our hearts. THEN, and only then, will we be able to say with surety, “I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.” For 30 years Mother Teresa worked in the slums of Calcutta, India. She worked among the most forsaken people on earth. You and I would recoil from most of the people that she touched every day – the dispossessed, the downtrodden, the diseased, and the desperate. And yet, everybody who met Mother Teresa remarked on her warm smile. How, after 30 years of working in conditions like that did she keep a warm smile on her face? Well, it's interesting. She said that at age 18 she left Yugoslavia to become a Christian servant. She said, "When I was leaving home, my mother told me something beautiful and very strange. She said, 'You go put your hand in Jesus’ hand and walk along with him.'" And this was the secret of Mother Teresa's life ever after. Most of us at St. Michael’s have a job. And we live in nice homes, and don’t want for much. But do we have the warm smile on our faces that this little nun, working in the most desperate situation imaginable, had on her face. What's the difference? It may be that we've never put our hand in Jesus’ hand. It may be that we have Him only on our lips. It may be that we have a bit of the “hypocrite” in us. What do you think? Gospel Question of the Week: Is it the case that what you do on the outside matches what is in your heart?