“Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. . . . You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.”
Four times in today’s Gospel reading Jesus denounces with an emphatic woe the Pharisees, scribes, and scholars of the law who judge others and place heavy obligations on them. In the first reading, Saint Paul condemns the works of the flesh, including “immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness,” and other acts. What is needed instead, say Saint Paul and Jesus, is to live in the Spirit to bring forth its fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It calls to mind another teaching of Jesus: stop judging; the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.
Help me understand, God, how I knowingly and unknowingly tread on others in my judgment of them and neglect love of you and of my neighbor. Whatever is done in a small-hearted, perfunctory way help me correct and instead do with love. That will mean working my way around sarcasm and other obstacles and following you more attentively. “Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life,” says the responsorial psalm. If I offer you the mint and rue of my time today—whatever little time it turns out to be and in whatever form—give me the grace to see it for what it is; namely, a chance to love you through my thoughts, words, and actions.
Thank you, Lord, for this day! You bring light to the day whether it rains or shines. Teach me to go peacefully forward from this moment on so that I can perceive your nearness and abundant blessings.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.