Tag: hypocrisy

Memorial of Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests, and Companions, Martyrs

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 11:47-54)

The Lord said: “Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and Apostles; some of them they will kill and persecute’ in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who died between the altar and the temple building. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus condemns those who memorialize the prophets their ancestors killed. It is a sweeping, difficult message that takes into account generations of human history, in which, as Saint Paul writes “all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.” While a criticism of religious leaders of the time, Jesus also condemns the hypocrisies of the present age, wherever putting on appearances and false displays of piety supersede genuine acts of mercy and love. The building up of what is false can only lead to separation from God since God is truth itself. As Jesus says: “Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.” From every person, Jesus calls for transformation of heart and a genuine commitment to hearing and keeping God’s word.

Father in heaven, help me recognize that Jesus your Son condemns only to set people again on a path to integrity and truth. “I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me.” Give me the grace today to trust that you are attentive to my prayers and that in your mercy you alone satisfy every need. Help me know the strength of your guidance throughout the day, keep me from the harm of accepting what is false as true, and bring me into the knowledge of your will and the light of your glory.

From the responsorial psalm: “I trust in the LORD; my soul trusts in his word. My soul waits for the LORD more than sentinels wait for the dawn. With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.”

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.

Thursday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 24:42-51)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Jesus tells the disciples to be vigilant for the coming of the Son of Man. In the first reading, Saint Paul in his Letter to the Thessalonians echoes the Lord’s words: “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all . . . so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones.” Today’s readings speak to the importance of vigilance and faithful stewardship in relation to the Second Coming and final judgment of Christ.

Father in heaven, help me remember to return to you throughout the day in awareness of your presence. Give me the grace to be vigilant today and every day of the coming of your Son. Help me live out each day with a sense of urgency, faithfully taking responsibility for your gifts and living in accordance with your will. Bless me with your care, and make me an instrument of your love and mercy.

From the responsorial psalm: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!”

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.

Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 23:27-32)

Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.”

Jesus judges incisively the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, yet the Son of God is the Just Judge. The words Jesus chooses to address the Pharisees likens them to tombs and what is inside them. He describes the ghastly appearance of death, the death of those who live a life of whitewashed appearances, a life of feigned holiness. “Thus you bear witness against yourselves,” Jesus tells them, “that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets.” But as the responsorial psalm makes clear, there is nothing hidden that God cannot see: “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light’–For you darkness itself is not dark, and night shines as the day.”

God, help me understand the relevance of today’s Gospel. Your word is at work in me now, as Saint Paul says, yet I often choose to put on appearances and be on guard to uphold my self-image, the edifice I have built and shore up for the sake of others. Jesus cuts deep only to heal when he calls out arrogance and hypocrisy for the spiritual decay that results: “full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.” Give me the grace to abandon what is futile and foolish and do what is pleasing to you. Help me see that in the light of your presence there is no place to hide. Teach me, God, to love you, through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.

From the first reading: “And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.”

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.