This Sunday, the twenty-second of the year (B), we present a sermon by the English Dominican Isidore Clarke. The sermon was published on torch.op.org, a web site which “provides a new Catholic homily each week written specially for this web site by Dominican friars, and read by followers worldwide.”

Isidore Clarke begins his sermon, “Cleanliness and Godliness”, with these words:

As children we were told always to wash our hands before meals. Nowadays we’re much more conscious of the need for cleanliness to avoid spreading diseases. Cleanliness is a matter of practical common sense, simple hygiene. Removing the grime was even given a religious spin with the maxim, “cleanliness is next to godliness.” Read more…