Our Lord Jesus was addressing the Pharisees of His time as hypocrites, because they led apparently clean lives outside but were greedy and self-indulgent on the inside.
“‘The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?” (Lk 11:39-40)
Our Lord Jesus was addressing the Pharisees of His time as hypocrites, because they led apparently clean lives outside but were greedy and self-indulgent on the inside.
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With the beginning of the month of October, the Church invites us to the devotion of the Holy Rosary. As beautiful as this devotion is, I personally find it difficult to recite the Hail Maries and keep my mind focused on the mysteries rather than battling distracting thoughts. After all, the rosary is a summary of the principal mysteries of our Christian faith. A method I use when saying the rosary privately, which can also be used in communal recitation, is to interrupt each Hail Mary with a phrase that reminds us of the mystery we should be reflecting on. For instance for the first joyful mystery after saying “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus” add a phrase like “who was conceived by the Holy Spirit”, and finish the hail Mary as usual. Similarly during the second decade ad something like “who visited Elizabeth”, etc. We thus connect the mystery by focusing each Hail Mary on that event in the life of Jesus or Mary.
“To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:3)
Jesus’ words said to the Pharisees, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” (Mt 9:13a) opened up an argument that set the Kingdom’s priorities straight. Doing what is “right and just” is doing what is “morally right." Toward God, this means having a pure and humble heart and obeying His word and commandments (1 Sm 15:22-23 and Ps 51:18-19). Toward men, this means being fair, right, showing mercy, compassion and kindness in everything we do (Ex 18:21-22, Dt 1:16-17, Dt 16:18-20). The Parable of the Two Sons in Sunday’s Gospel speaks of the people of Jesus’ time: the first son is like the prostitutes and tax collectors who have disobeyed the commandments of the Lord, but upon hearing the teachings of John the Baptist, have repented and reformed their ways. The second son is like the chief priests and elders to whom Jesus addressed His story. In spite of their outward display of holiness, they refused to embrace and believe in John’s teachings. Jesus then reveals to the chiefs and the elders that the prostitutes and the tax collectors will enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus did not mince words. “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.” (Mt 21: 31b)
Our worship theme for the coming week is: “We love one another when we are generous with our time, talent and treasure.” The key word in our theme is “generous”.
As we will notice in the readings for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, one common theme also emerges and that is God’s generosity to us. In the first reading from Isaiah, verse 7 says, “Let them turn to the LORD to find mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving.” The Lord is generous in mercy and forgiveness. In Psalm 145 verses 8 and 9, the psalmist extolls God’s generosity in His patience, kindness, and compassion: “The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. The LORD is good to all, compassionate toward all your works.” In the second reading, St. Paul acknowledges Christ’s generosity towards him when the Lord transformed him despite his prior life of persecuting Christians. It is in response to God’s generosity that St. Paul himself was as generous in living and giving his life for the sake of the Gospel (ref. Phil 1:20-24). Bless us O Lord and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord. Amen
Think about it...3 times a day, 365 days a year...that's more than a thousand times every year we pray that little prayer. That's a lot of blessing and a lot of gratitude. But can you imagine sitting down at the table and saying, "I'm disgusted with this wretched food"? The Bible calls the Jews a stiff-necked people. That means stubborn or hard-headed. They had been in the desert a long time and maybe manna wasn't exactly tasty. But can you imagine telling God that you're disgusted with it? When the subject of “ecumenism” comes up there are many aspects in interreligious dialogue that need to be kept clear. In our desire for openness and unity we can easily gloss over the precise differences as well as similarities that have to be made when we dialogue about relationships with other religions. The relationship we may have with our Protestant Christian friends is different from that with our non-Christian friends. In every day interaction in business or chance meetings, the subject of religion rarely comes up; and business is conducted between parties that are not aware of the other person’s religious affiliation. But when families and children begin to talk about a religious or spiritual relationship, the conversation changes. This is especially true in the case of a marriage between a Catholic and non-Catholic. The experience I have had as a priest has led me to the conclusion that religion can often be a cause of division instead of unity. Deep sensitivity is necessary when arranging a marriage between a Catholic and a non- Catholic. In today’s society and culture, it is often easy to identify what is important to a person based on what they choose to represent on the exterior of their body. For example, one can often indicate a person’s favorite sports team by the hat they are wearing or by the logos on their clothing. This alone can help others to see whom a person follows or takes pride in. Although sports teams and fashion designers can easily be represented on one’s body, how easy is it to represent that we are followers of Christ? It’s not like everyday you see hundreds of individuals wearing hats and clothing that represent Jesus or Christianity. It’s often rare to find this in an everyday crowd. Perhaps fear of ridicule or persecution may stop people from openly representing their faith through their exterior - but why fear representing what is most important to us?
This Sunday's first reading reminds us that we should be willing to accept correction from those who are in authority over us so that we too may be able to correct those who are under our authority. Going further, as we minister to others, we too should be willing to be ministered to. Love of neighbor should be our first consideration when we confront and correct others, as emphasized in the second reading. The Gospel gives us an outline on how to confront and correct in a gentle spirit (Gal 6: 1), and forgive within and even outside the confines of community life; for as we are reconciled with one another, our prayers will be heard by our Father in heaven.
“For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Cor 3:9)
This is a testament of our Lord’s love and humility, that He considers us as His co-workers. By making us His co-workers, He treats us with equality in all our efforts to be part of what is currently referred to as the new evangelization. It does not matter how long we have been in the community, or what position we hold, or what ministry we belong to, or what our educational background or professional achievement is. “For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another.” (Rom 12:4-5) |
To nurture and promote the love of the Gospel of Christ.
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