Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”

Trivial Pursuit might be a name for the game Jesus denounces in Matthew's gospel. “Woe,” he says to his opponents, “You pay tithes on mint and herbs and seeds while neglecting the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and good faith” (23:23). A temptation of people serious about faith: we try to ensure our faithfulness by making mandatory practices to safeguard it. We think that somehow a collection of practices carried out carefully will assure the inner spirit. Of course, it must be admitted that specific practices are necessary to focus our spirit, keep us mindful of God. A purely inner religion never expressed in the body can become quite unreal. But our practices can also become like “lucky charms”.

We must think of this sometimes when we whip through our common prayers as if the bare recitation, at no matter what speed, was magic. And we can make so much of a deal about specific practices that they become distracting fetishes. We must say this prayer so many times, for so many days; the priest must not deviate from some exact formula.

Legalism and petty regulations are a temptation not only of individuals but of religious bodies as well. Fortunately, we have been moving away from this and, we hope, towards concentration on weightier matters like justice, mercy, good faith, love, union with God. Life is too short, our relation to God, our opportunities to help others too limited, to waste energy and time in religious trivialities.

Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

Watch Daily Mass online at: SaintJohnsAbbey.org/live

Send your prayer requests to the monks