Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary
Time
Lectionary: 427
Reading 1
We instruct you, brothers and sisters,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to shun any brother
who walks in a disorderly way
and not according to the tradition they received from us.
For you know how one must imitate us.
For we did not act in a disorderly way among you,
nor did we eat food received free from anyone.
On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked,
so as not to burden any of you.
Not that we do not have the right.
Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you,
so that you might imitate us.
In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that
if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.
May the Lord of peace himself
give you peace at all times and in every way.
The Lord be with all of you.
This greeting is in my own hand, Paul’s.
This is the sign in every letter; this is how I write.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1) Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever keeps the word of Christ,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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!”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082620.cfm
Meditation: True
Beauty and Goodness Come from Within
How can you tell if someone is real or fake, genuine or
counterfeit? Outward appearances can be deceptive. Isaiah prophesied that the
Messiah would not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his
ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with
equity for the meek of the earth (Isaiah 11:3-4). The heart reveals
the true intentions and attitudes that form the way we think of others and
treat them. Jesus used strong language to warn the religious leaders and
teachers about the vanity of outward appearance and pretense - wearing a mask
that hides the true intentions and thoughts of the heart. In Palestine tombs
were often placed by the sides of roads. They were painted white which made
them glisten in the midday sun, especially around the time of the great feasts,
so that people would not accidentally touch them and incur ritual impurity.
True beauty and goodness come from within
Jesus equates true beauty and goodness with a clean heart and mind that
is set on God and his way of love and goodness and sin with a corrupt mind and
heart that is set on doing what is wrong and evil. Jesus issued a stern warning
to the scribes and Pharisees not to condemn them but to call them to examine
their hearts in the light of God's truth and holiness. Jesus called them
hypocrites because their hearts were set on pleasing themselves rather than
God. A hypocrite is an actor or imposter who says one thing but does the
opposite or who puts on an outward appearance of doing good while inwardly
clinging to wrong attitudes, selfish desires and ambitions, or bad intentions.
Many scribes and Pharisees had made it a regular practice to publicly put on a
good show of outward zeal and piety with the intention of winning greater
honors, privileges, and favors among the people.
Sin is ugly because it corrupts heart and mind
Jesus warns that what truly corrupts a person is not external ritual impurity
but the impurity of wrong and sinful attitudes that come from within a person's
mind and heart - such as pride, greed, sloth, envy, hatred, gluttony, and lust
- these are what produce sinful habits (vices) and ways of speaking, acting,
judging, and treating others. That is why every good deed is beautiful in God's
sight and every wrong or sinful deed is ugly in his sight. The scribes and
Pharisees were intensely religious in their outward observances, but their
outward show didn't match the inner reality of the state of their minds and
hearts. They not only neglected the poor and the weak, but they were intolerant
towards anyone who challenged their idea of religion. That is why so many of
the prophets in past ages - who warned about tolerating evil desires and unjust
behavior towards one's neighbor - were persecuted and even killed by their own
rulers and people.
Jesus chastised the religious leaders for being double-minded and for demanding
from others standards which they refused to satisfy. They professed admiration
for the prophets who spoke God's word by building tombs in their honor. But
their outward show of respect did not match their inward refusal to heed the
prophets' warning to turn away from sinful attitudes and from neglecting to
lead their people - through teaching and their own example - in God's way of
love and holiness of life. They shut themselves to heaven and they hindered
others from growing in the knowledge of God's truth and goodness. They rejected
Jesus as their Messiah because their hearts were blinded and hardened to the
voice of God.
The Holy Spirit renews the heart and mind
True beauty, goodness, and piety come from within - from a heart that
is set on pleasing God and a mind that is set on hearing and obeying God's
word. Jesus came to set us free from slavery to sin and harmful habits and
addictions that lead us into wrong and sinful ways of thinking, acting, and
relating to others. Only the humble of heart can receive from God true wisdom
and understanding, pardon and healing. The Holy Spirit is ever ready to renew
our minds and hearts and to lead us in God's way of love and holiness. Ask the
Holy Spirit to purify your heart and mind and to fill you with the power of
God's love and goodness.
Lord Jesus, incline my heart to your wisdom and teach me your
ways. Fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may love your ways and obey your
word.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Good
deeds done for God, author unknown, from the 5th century A.D.
"Every good deed that is done for God is universally good
for everything and everyone. Deeds that are not seen to benefit everything and
everyone, however, are done on account of man, as the present matter itself
demonstrates. For example, those who build reliquaries and adorn churches seem
to be doing good. If they imitate the justice of God, if the poor benefit from
their goods and if they do not acquire their goods through violence against
others, it is clear that they are building for the glory of God. If they fail
to observe God's justice... and if the poor never benefit from their goods and
if they acquire their goods from others by means of violence or fraud, who is
so foolish not to understand that they are building for human respect rather
than for the glory of God? Those who build reliquaries in a just manner ensure
that the poor do not suffer as a result of it. For the martyrs do not rejoice
when they are honored by gifts for which the poor paid with their tears. What
kind of justice is it to give gifts to the dead and to despoil the living or to
drain blood from the poor and offer it to God? To do such things is not to
offer sacrifice to God but to attempt to make God an accomplice in violence,
since whoever knowingly accepts a gift which was acquired by sinful means
participates in the sin." (excerpt from an incomplete Commentary on
the Gospel of Matthew, HOMILY 45)
https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2020&date=aug26
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26 MATTHEW 23:27-32
Weekday
(2 Thessalonians 3:6-10, 16-18; Psalm 128)
KEY VERSE: "On the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing" (v. 28).
TO KNOW: Jesus reproached the religious leaders for their excessive concern for externals while neglecting interior righteousness. He compared them to whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside, but filled with corruption. Jesus made his most serious indictment of these hypocritical religious leaders when he accused them of being as guilty as those who murdered the prophets. He charged them with making a pretense of honoring God's messengers, boasting that if they had lived in the days of the prophets they would not have participated in their deaths. But these hypocritical religious leaders were no different than their ancestors. By their actions they filled the crucible with the blood of Christ.
TO LOVE: Do I make a pretense at being holy while my thoughts, words and deeds are impure?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, make my inmost being truly holy in your sight.
http://www.togetherwithgodsword.com/commentaries-on-the-daily-gospel-of-the-mass.html
Wednesday 26 August 2020
2 Thessalonians 3:6-10, 16-18. Happy are those who fear the Lord
– Psalm 127(128):1-2, 4-5. Matthew 23:27-32.
You are sons of those who murdered the prophets
Today’s readings offer two conflicting images of parenthood.
The Gospel reminds us that misunderstanding can be passed from
generation to generation. There is a type of parent who, perhaps inadvertently,
limits and prejudices the growth of the child. The first reading presents an
alternative: parenthood is not only teaching but also calling. There is a gulf
between calling and demanding. Demands are often insensitive to the point of
stifling one partner in a relationship. Calling always implies freedom and offers
support.
God parents each one of us by calling us to a fuller, freer
life. Christian vocation is never a matter of being cornered without choice. It
is the challenge to seek God’s gentle guidance between thousands of
possibilities and to be invited perhaps where we would rather not go.
http://www.pray.com.au/gospel_reflection/wednesday-26-august-2020/
Saint Joseph Calasanz
Saint of the Day for August 26
(September 11, 1556 – August 25, 1648)
San José de Calasanz | Francisco Jover y Casanova
Saint Joseph Calasanz’ Story
From Aragon, where he was born in 1556, to Rome, where he died
92 years later, fortune alternately smiled and frowned on the work of Joseph
Calasanz. A priest with university training in canon law and theology,
respected for his wisdom and administrative expertise, he put aside his career
because he was deeply concerned with the need for education of poor children.
When he was unable to get other institutes to undertake this
apostolate at Rome, Joseph and several companions personally provided a free
school for deprived children. So overwhelming was the response that there was a
constant need for larger facilities to house their effort. Soon, Pope Clement
VIII gave support to the school, and this aid continued under Pope Paul V.
Other schools were opened; other men were attracted to the work, and in 1621
the community—for so the teachers lived—was recognized as a religious
community, the Clerks Regular of Religious Schools—Piarists or Scolopi. Not
long after, Joseph was appointed superior for life.
A combination of various prejudices and political ambition and
maneuvering caused the institute much turmoil. Some did not favor educating the
poor, for education would leave the poor dissatisfied with their lowly tasks
for society! Others were shocked that some of the Piarists were sent for
instruction to Galileo—a friend of Joseph—as superior, thus dividing the
members into opposite camps. Repeatedly investigated by papal commissions,
Joseph was demoted; when the struggle within the institute persisted, the
Piarists were suppressed. Only after Joseph’s death were they formally
recognized as a religious community. His Liturgical Feast Day is August 25.
Reflection
No one knew better than Joseph the need for the work he was
doing; no one knew better than he how baseless were the charges brought against
him. Yet if he were to work within the Church, he realized that he must submit
to its authority, that he must accept a setback if he was unable to convince
authorized investigators. While the prejudice, the scheming and the ignorance
of men often keep the truth from emerging for a long period of time, Joseph was
convinced, even under suppression, that his institute would again be recognized
and authorized. With this trust he joined exceptional patience and a genuine
spirit of forgiveness.
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-joseph-calasanz/
Lectio Divina: Matthew 23:27-32
Lectio Divina
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Father,
help us to seek the values
that will bring us enduring joy in this changing world.
In our desire for what You promise
make us one in mind and heart.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 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!"
3) Reflection
• These two last "Alas for you..." which Jesus
pronounced against the doctors of the law and the Pharisees of His time, take
again and strengthen, the same theme of the two "Alas for you..." of
the Gospel of yesterday. Jesus criticizes the lack of coherence between word
and practice, between what is interior and what is exterior.
• Matthew 23:27-28: The seventh, "Alas for you..." against those who
are like whitewashed tombs. "You appear upright on the outside, but inside
you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness”. The image of “whitewashed
sepulchers” speaks for itself and needs no commentaries. Jesus condemns those
who have the fictitious appearance of upright persons, but who interiorly are
the total negation of what they want to appear to be.
• Matthew 23:29-32: The eighth "Alas for you...’" against those who
build the sepulchers of the prophets and decorate the tombs of the upright, but
do not imitate them. The doctors and the Pharisees said: “We would never have
joined in shedding the blood of the prophets, had we lived in our ancestors’
day”. Jesus concludes saying: The people who speak like this “confess that they
are children of those who killed the prophets”, then they say “our
fathers”. Jesus ends by saying,” Very well then, finish off the work that
your ancestors began!” In fact, at that moment they had already decided to kill
Jesus. In this way they were finishing off the work of their ancestors.
4) Personal questions
• These two other expressions of "Alas for you..." are
but two reasons for being criticized severely by Jesus. Which of these is in
me?
• Which image of myself do I try to present to others? Does it correspond, in
fact, to what I am before God?
5) Concluding Prayer
How blessed are all who fear Yahweh,
who walk in His ways!
Your own labors will yield you a living,
happy and prosperous will you be. (Ps 128:1-2)
https://ocarm.org/en/content/lectio/lectio-divina-matthew-2327-32
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