In the 1997 film "As Good as It Gets", Jack Nicholson plays the part of Melvin Udall, a writer who thinks he is an expert on love because he has written 62 romantic novels.

In reality, he is a lonely man who is obsessed with his cleanliness. He is constantly washing his hands and avoiding people and dogs. And, he is thoughtlessly cruel. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that knowing about love and staying clean just aren’t enough, for it’s the heart that really counts.

Like so many in our society today, Melvin Udall thinks that appearance is everything. But most of us know too well that appearances can deceive.

In this weekend’s Gospel, Jesus takes on the question of eating with defiled hands. Then he posed a much deeper question: What really defiles a whole person? Jesus moved the debate to what is going on in the heart, because the call to follow Jesus must involve the whole self. It is the call to holiness.

Jesus spoke to the crowd about hypocrisy and lip service, but the real point of this gospel passage is not that we become more aware of the hypocrisy or lip service of others. It's an invitation to look deeper at ourselves and see where we need to change!

True cleansing and purification come from within. Focusing too much on external appearances or rules can lead to a false sense of superiority and distract from internal flaws and hypocrisy. Jesus emphasizes the primacy of the heart.

It is not the external things that make us holy or unholy, but the heart which expresses our intentions, our choices, and the will to do all for the love of God. External behavior is the result of what we decide in the heart.

So where is your heart? Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

What do you treasure? Without a purified heart, one cannot have truly clean hands and lips which speak sincere words of love — lips which speak words of mercy, of forgiveness: only a sincere and purified heart can do this.

— Father Mark