Daily Catholic Lectio. Tue, 14 October ’25. Made Pure

Daily Catholic Lectio

Tue, 14 Oct ‘25

Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

Romans 1:16–25. Luke 11:37–41

All Things are Made Pure

“Those who empty themselves for others make everything around them pure.”

Purity can be understood as readiness. A clean vessel is ready to serve food. A clean garment is ready to be worn. A clean heart is ready to receive God.

But purity is not a single, fixed measure. What one person calls clean, another may call unclean. For a poor woman living by the roadside, “being unwashed” may actually be a way of protection, even safety. Thus, purity is not a social appearance; it is a spiritual disposition.

Jesus and the Pharisee: The Contrast of Purities

In today’s Gospel, a Pharisee invites Jesus to dine with him. When Jesus sits down without washing His hands, the Pharisee is surprised. Jesus uses that very moment to teach a lesson on true purity.

The word Pharisee comes from the Hebrew ‘parash,’ meaning “to separate.” Pharisees considered themselves “set apart” from others by their religious and ritual purity. They avoided any contact that might make them unclean — especially contact with non-Jews or public sinners.

Their purity, however, was external — focused on washing, food laws, and ceremonial observance. But Jesus brings a deeper vision. True purity, He says, comes not from what enters a person, but from what flows out of the heart.

He tells the Pharisee two simple yet profound truths: (a) Remove inner corruption — the greed, pride, and self-centeredness that pollute the soul. (b) Practice charity — for “when you give alms, everything becomes clean for you.” (Luke 11:41)

External washing may take only a little water and effort. But inner cleansing through compassion demands self-emptying — the giving up of one’s ego, greed, and possessiveness.

Charity as Self-emptying

Charity (almsgiving) is not just about money; it is about a heart that knows how to share. It begins as a thought — a readiness to part with what we have, to say, “This is enough for me; let me give the rest.” Purity of heart flows from such charity. When we share what we have with others, we also cleanse our desires, our fears, and our attachments.

The Pharisees washed their hands and vessels. But Jesus invites us to wash our hearts. Only when our inner life is emptied of selfishness can our outer life shine with holiness. To be pure, then, is not to avoid people but to embrace them. Not to keep oneself apart, but to open one’s life in service and love.

Paul’s Reflection: Faith that Purifies

In the first reading (Romans 1:16–25), Paul writes, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Faith, for him, is not merely belief in doctrines but a living relationship with God that transforms the heart. Paul reminds his readers that humanity often turns away from the Creator to worship created things — replacing love with lust, gratitude with greed. In doing so, people lose their moral clarity and inner purity. Faith restores that order. When we return to God, we rediscover what is true, good, and beautiful. To believe, therefore, is to live rightly — and to live rightly is to love selflessly.

The Way to Holiness

Holiness is not achieved by separation from the world but by self-emptying love within it.

Jesus’ teaching today can be summed up in three movements: Look within. See what needs cleansing — greed, envy, pride, selfishness. Give generously. Charity purifies more deeply than ritual. Live gratefully. Faith in God transforms our actions into holiness. When we give of ourselves — time, attention, kindness, forgiveness — we make our world pure.

The one who empties themselves for others becomes the dwelling place of God. And where God dwells, everything — and everyone — is made holy.

Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi

Archdiocese of Madurai

Missionary of Mercy