WEDNESDAY OF THE TWENTY FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME AUGUST 25, 2021

MASS READINGS:

A reading according to the Gospel according to 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. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’ Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets; now fill up what your ancestors measured out!”

REFLECTION

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.

“I don’t make decisions in public life based on religious belief.”—claimed a politician who claims to hold strong Roman Catholic beliefs but supports legal abortion and civil unions for homosexual couples.

It is hard to believe that there are many Catholic politicians who take this view. Today we see the last two of the seven "Woes". And Jesus does not mince words. He calls out the Pharisees. Historically, the Jewish people whitewashed the tombs so that there was no danger of their accidentally touching them and therefore being unclean.

A good example of hypocrisy is letting our outside appear good and clean and therefore accept plaudits; however, inside of us is filth, anger, jealousy, pornography, broken commandments and promises but on the outside no one would know.

A similar but more lethal example are the priests and the sex scandals. So many went up the ladder and had high positions of authority, many lived an exemplary life but were in the inside full of sin, deceit and malfeasance.

Do we have a similar problem? Though we may not hold a political office nor are part of the Church hierarchy, we also have our own hypocritical stories. But for the lowest one, not subject to too much scrutiny, many go unnoticed, except God sees all.

No matter our standing, we will have similar traps but yet harder to be found out. It does not matter, Jesus knows all. Listen to His words, our conscience the Holy Spirit and pay attention to His ways. Be alert, awake, aware, attentive, attuned and atoned for what we do in hiding but will need to answer to.

God Bless You.