You know, if you were a Jew, living at the time of Christ, and you were serious about your faith, then there is a good chance you may have been drawn to Phariseeism. It was a movement that called the Jewish people to live out the temple law in a rigorous, fundamental way. The Pharisees saw how people had grown irreverent and had drifted. They worried that God's people were too close to the gentiles that dominated them. So, their response was to get as strict about the practice of the faith as possible. A perfect Pharisee was one who followed the law perfectly. It was very appealing to many Jews. While the restrictions that being a Pharisee placed on Jewish life were enormous, there must have been a great satisfaction in knowing that they were really trying. 

It is sort of odd that Jesus, who is the Word of God, would have had so much negative to say about a group of people who seemed to take following the law so seriously. But, if you are familiar with the scriptures, then you know that Jesus was not fond of Phariseeism at all. Why? Well, The story of the man born blind, from John chapter 22, gives some insight. This is a long story, spanning a whole chapter of John's Gospel. 

There is a man who has been blind from birth, and Jesus sees him. Now Jesus must really have been looking at this guy, because the disciples ask him, "who sinned, this guy or his parents." The presumption was that the blindness was a punishment either for the parent's sin or for the man's. Jesus does not really have time for that, but instead replies, 

Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

And then Jesus spat in the dirt, made clay, and wiped it on the guy's eyes, and told the blind man to go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sent. He sent him to the "pool of sent." God plays the long game when it comes to names.

The man received his sight. A miracle! The people are amazed. But, what they do next is odd. Rather than celebrating, they take the man to the Pharisees. Why? Because it was the sabbath. And good Jews were not supposed to work on the sabbath. It is almost like the friends and neighbors of this man can't celebrate without first checking to make sure that it is ok with the Pharisees. They were so twisted in trying to obey the exacting measure of the Pharisees' interpretation that they lost all wonder at the miracle God was doing. Rather than celebrating the miracle God had worked in their midsts, these people drag the poor guy to the Pharisees. The Pharisees begin a debate about whether the miracle is of God or not because it was not done right. 

That is a trap we can still fall into. As Catholics, there is so much richness in the traditions of the Church. In this case, when I say tradition, I am talking about the little t traditions. Customs, personal, and private devotions that are good, and that can be very spiritually edifying. We are blessed with so much of that. But the danger is that we can become so involved, or devoted to a particular custom or practice, that we begin to see other Catholics, who are not invested in those customs, as somehow less devoted than we are.

Can you imagine being angry that a man was healed of his blindness? It sounds crazy. And yet, there are those in the Church today who would not celebrate a miracle if it happened in a Charismatic prayer group, or if it was given without anointing, or if it happened at a Latin Mass, or at a protestant gathering. Somehow, Phariseeism still exists in the Church today. 

Catholicism has never been about perfectly following a set of customs. We are called to so much more. Through Christ, we are called to new lives as the children of the Father. We have been given the very presence of God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, to dwell within us. And far too often we want to trade all that for a good set of solid rules we can follow. 

Don't get me wrong. The Church teaches without error. When it comes to matters of faith and morals, we are called to live the teachings. What the Church has prescribed for liturgy, and the sacraments, we are supposed to adhere to. But, God wants more than rules. He wants you to know him. He wants you to not need the rules because, in love, you are already following them. 

God is moving. He is moving in his Church. He is moving in Latin Masses, in English, and in Spanish. He is present in Charismatic prayer meetings, and he is even present at diocesan staff meetings. We know that because he told us, "where two or more are gathered." 

We need to be ready to celebrate the work that God is doing, even when it doesn't happen the way we think it should. When people lift their voices in worship, we need to be ready to join them, and it doesn't matter if they are singing chant in Latin, or contemporary praise and worship. 

Want to avoid Phariseeism? Then focus more on what he is doing. 

He is moving. Usually, in unexpected ways. We need to be ready to celebrate.