22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8
Second Reading: James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27
Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their
meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. —For the Pharisees and, in
fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping
the tradition of the elders, And on coming from the market-place 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. — So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do
your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you
hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honor me with their lips,
But their hearts are far from me;
In vain do they worship me,
Teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
He summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing than enters one from outside can defile that person; but
the things that come out from within are what defile. “

“From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit. Licentiousness, envy, blasphemy,
arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”