Hope.

I've mentioned several of my favorite songs in my blog many times.  This morning I hear the refrain to a favorite Mark Schultz song, "He Will Carry Me."

And when all hope is gone and I've been wounded in the battle,
He is all the strength that I will ever need.  He will carry me.

Why do I forget that?

Last night we had our 22nd class of the 24 recommended by the Jeff Cavins Great Adventure Bible Study.  It's been quite a journey.  And every step of the way, I've learned something new and entered a closer relationship with Christ.  It's true was St Jerome says:  "Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ."  And to be honest, I never knew what I was missing.

In this 22nd session, we studied the birth of the early Church, the death of Stephen, and the conversion of Paul.  The early church leaders had their first council, The Council of Jerusalem, not long after walking with Jesus.  In their first conversations, they were trying to decide the value of the Old Testament laws and practices and what role thoses practices have in the early Church.  First on the list was circumcision and whether the Gentiles would be subject to the same law as the Jews.  We were directed to read some excerpts from Matthew 15 to see what Jesus himself had to say about tradition.

Then the Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?  They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal."  He said to them in reply, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?"  (1-3)

He summoned the crowd and said to them, "Hear and understand.  It is not what enters one's mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.  (10-11)

"For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy.  These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile."  (19-20)

Say the editors of The Catholic Youth Bible: 
Evil intentions bear weight.

Jesus addresses the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders who manipulate the Law to their own good.  They and the people who follow them are blind to the results...  [They all need] to overcome their blindness to the results of evil intentions...

So how, in a world full of distraction, do we keep pure minds, hearts, and spirits?

Hmmm.

Isn't that the million dollar question?

The answer, I think, dangles before us, and it's something to do with Grace and Hope.