Religious practices are not for show

October 30, 2005 -- 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Fr. Michael Stubbs

	Fr. Mike Stubbs

Once a women dropped by with dozens of religious medals hung around her neck, and others pinned to her blouse. She looked like a decorated five-star general. It was very impressive, in a bizarre way.

It's one thing to wear a religious medal. It's quite another thing to take it to such extremes. That is evidently what Jesus has in mind in Sunday's gospel reading, when he criticizes individuals who misuse religious practices by putting on a show:

"They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in market places, and the salutation 'Rabbi.'"

Phylacteries, or in Hebrew "tefillin," are small leather cases containing verses from the Bible, for example, Deuteronomy 6:4-9: "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead."

It is significant that this passage from Deuteronomy contains the greatest and first commandment which Jesus quoted in answer to the Pharisee's question in last Sunday's gospel. "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength." When Jesus mentions the phylacteries as part of his continuing dialogue with the Pharisees, he is indirectly referring to that commandment. Jesus is making the point that the Pharisees, in their arrogant focus upon self, are failing to obey this commandment.

Originally, the last instruction in the passage from Deuteronomy was probably intended in a figurative sense. Deuteronomy wanted to emphasize the importance of remembering this key statement of Jewish faith, "The LORD is our God, the LORD alone." But later on, Jews interpreted the command in a literal fashion. During times of prayer, they would fasten phylacteries to their foreheads and wrists by means of thongs. "Bind them on your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead."

The phylacteries are intended to remind the person wearing them about the Biblical verses they contain. They are not meant to put on a show for others. But evidently, some individuals wore exaggeratedly large phylacteries to impress others with their piety. It is this misuse of religious practice for outward show that Matthew's gospel is criticizing.

As Catholics, we do not wear phylacteries as part of our religious observance. At the same time, we have many other practices that can be easily distorted to feed our pride rather than nourish our faith. Jesus' words still caution us to remain true to the original purpose of our religious devotion, to focus upon God rather than upon ourselves.

(Fr. Stubbs, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, has a master's degree in theology from Harvard.)