August 23, 2025
Saturday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 424
Reading 1
Naomi had a prominent kinsman named Boaz,
of the clan of her husband Elimelech.
Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi,
"Let me go and glean ears of grain in the field
of anyone who will allow me that favor."
Naomi said to her, "Go, my daughter," and she went.
The field she entered to glean after the harvesters
happened to be the section belonging to Boaz
of the clan of Elimelech.
Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter!
Do not go to glean in anyone else's field;
you are not to leave here.
Stay here with my women servants.
Watch to see which field is to be harvested, and follow them;
I have commanded the young men to do you no harm.
When you are thirsty, you may go and drink from the vessels
the young men have filled."
Casting herself prostrate upon the ground, Ruth said to him,
"Why should I, a foreigner, be favored with your notice?"
Boaz answered her:
"I have had a complete account of what you have done
for your mother-in-law after your husband's death;
you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth,
and have come to a people whom you did not know previously."
Boaz took Ruth.
When they came together as man and wife,
the LORD enabled her to conceive and she bore a son.
Then the women said to Naomi,
"Blessed is the LORD who has not failed
to provide you today with an heir!
May he become famous in Israel!
He will be your comfort and the support of your old age,
for his mother is the daughter-in-law who loves you.
She is worth more to you than seven sons!"
Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became his nurse.
And the neighbor women gave him his name,
at the news that a grandson had been born to Naomi.
They called him Obed.
He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (4) See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
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. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
You wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You have but one Father in heaven;
you have but one master, the Christ.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying,
"The scribes and the Pharisees
have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,
but do not follow their example.
For they preach but they do not practice.
They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry
and lay them on people's shoulders,
but they will not lift a finger to move them.
All their works are performed to be seen.
They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues,
greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.'
As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.'
You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father;
you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called 'Master';
you have but one master, the Christ.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082325.cfm
Commentary on Ruth
2:1-3,8-11;4:13-17
Our second and final reading from Ruth describes the outcome
of the goodness and loyalty of this widowed and childless outsider to Naomi,
her widowed mother-in-law. There is a combination of pure coincidence and God’s
over-riding Providence in the unfolding of the story. God is ultimately behind
everything that happens to us.
First we are told that in Bethlehem Naomi had a kinsman,
called Boaz, who was related to her deceased husband, Elimelech. And he was
well off. ‘Boaz’ probably means “in him is strength”. Boaz is included in both
genealogies of Jesus (Matt 1:5; Luke 3:32).
One day, Ruth asked Naomi for permission to go and glean
ears of corn in the footsteps of a man who would allow her to do so. As a
foreigner and a young woman on her own, she could be quite vulnerable in the
harvest fields. Nevertheless, she is willing to take the risk in order to
provide for her mother-in-law, who has no other resources. Later, Naomi will
return the favour by putting Ruth cleverly in the way of her future husband
(see Ruth 3:1-5). Naomi gave her blessing for Ruth’s request.
According to the Law, the poor had this right, but its
exercise depended on the goodwill of the owner of the property. The law of
Moses instructed landowners to leave what the harvesters missed so that the
poor, the alien, the widow and the orphan could glean for their needs. Gleaning
was a work which was normally done by women. It was also a way for the landless
poor to pick up any grain that got left behind (recall that the Pharisees
accused Jesus’ disciples because they were picking heads of wheat…it was not
because they were stealing, but because they were doing it on a Sabbath; see
Matt 12:1-2).
So Ruth set out to glean in the fields behind the reapers.
As chance would have it, she was led to a piece of land belonging to a man
called Boaz, who was of the same clan as Emilech, Naomi’s late husband. It
looked like chance, but divine providence was at work.
At this point, adding some omitted verses will bring a
fuller understanding of today’s passage. Apparently by chance, Boaz himself
arrived just then and greeted the reapers. And, seeing Ruth, he asked a servant
to whom this woman belonged. In the east every woman ‘belonged’ to someone,
father, husband, brother, master. He is told that she is the Moabitess woman
who came back from Moab with Naomi. She had asked for permission to glean what
the reapers left behind, and the servant says that she has been working
non-stop from dawn till now.
In today’s reading, Boaz speaks to Ruth and tells her to
continue gleaning in his field and not to go anywhere else. She is to stay
close to Boaz’s other work women and to work close behind them. Boaz’s men have
been forbidden to molest her in any way. It was customary for the men to cut
the grain and for the servant girls to go behind them to bind the grain into
sheaves. Then Ruth could glean what they had left behind. Furthermore, Boaz
tells her that, if she is thirsty, she can get water from the pitchers the
servants have prepared. Ruth then falls prostrate before Boaz and says:
Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should
take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?
She is surprised at his kindness. In the eyes of many,
perhaps most, Ruth would be the lowest of the low—an unknown person, a
foreigner and a widow. But Boaz tells her that he knows her story, how good she
has been to her mother-in-law since her own husband’s death, and how she has
left her own parents and her native land to come and live among a people of
whom she previously knew nothing. Ruth’s commitment to care for her desolate
mother-in-law remains the centre of attention throughout the book.
We now move to the end of Ruth’s story and also of the book.
The conclusion of the story balances the introduction (Ruth 1:1-5).
- In
the Hebrew both have the same number of words;
- both
compress much into a short space;
- both
focus on Naomi;
- the
introduction emphasised Naomi’s emptiness, and the conclusion portrays her
fullness.
Boaz has now decided to make Ruth his wife. In doing so, he
is also honouring the memory of his kinsman, Emilech. By marrying his kinsman’s
widow he ensures that Emilech’s line will continue through him. And, when Boaz
and Ruth came together as man and wife, Yahweh was instrumental in their having
a son.
And the women said to Naomi:
Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day
without next-of-kin, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you
a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law
who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has borne him.
The baby son is seen as a redeemer for Naomi, who now knows
that she will be cared for in her old age. Even in our own day, this may be a
major concern for parents who do not have social welfare to take care of them
in their old age. It may be felt that only a son can do it; a daughter will be
lost by marrying into another family.
Since seven was considered a number of completeness, to have
seven sons was the epitome of all family blessings in Israel (‘…more to you
than seven sons…’). Ruth’s selfless devotion to Naomi receives its supreme
accolade in this statement. There could be no higher praise.
Then Naomi took the child, held him to her breast and it was
she who looked after him. Such an action was understood as an adoption ritual,
also used by other peoples in the ancient Near East. The barrenness and
emptiness of Naomi is at an end. The son is almost as much hers as it is
Ruth’s.
In fact, because Ruth is an outsider, the child is spoken of
as the grandson of Naomi. Naomi is the child’s legal mother just as Elimelech
is his legal father. Through Ruth, the aged Naomi, who can no longer bear
children, obtains an heir in place of her son, Mahlon. And it was the women of
the neighbourhood who gave the child its name—Obed. ‘Obed’ means ‘servant’,
i.e. servant of Yahweh. He will be the father of Jesse, who in turn will be the
father of David.
The dutifulness of Ruth and Boaz thus makes Naomi the
ancestress of King David. But there is another point of universal interest: it
is a foreigner, Ruth, who is also the ancestress of David and through him of
Christ. The Gospel will call attention to this. In fact, in his genealogy of
Jesus, Matthew will mention Boaz and Ruth as ancestors but not Naomi.
Through Ruth’s ‘alien’ blood, the House of David is linked
to peoples outside that of Israel. Jesus will be the King of the new Israel,
which will embrace peoples of all kinds. His Gospel will be for “all nations”.
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Commentary on
Matthew 23:1-12
We begin today chapter 23 of Matthew which consists of a
severe indictment of the Pharisees and scribes by Jesus. This is not to be
taken as a blanket condemnation of every individual Pharisee and scribe,
because we know that many of them were good people. One outstanding example is
Gamaliel who appears in the Acts of the Apostles as a man of justice and
integrity. Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night and was involved in Jesus’
burial, was also a Pharisee.
The passage certainly reflects some of the conflicts which
arose between the early Christians (especially those who were Jews themselves)
and those Jews who were opposed to the Christian Way, who saw it as a heresy
and who often subjected the Christians to verbal and even physical attacks and
harassment.
What Jesus is attacking is not so much a particular people
as certain attitudes of mind. And these attitudes can be found just as easily
within the Christian community of that time and every period since then. We
should listen to Jesus’ words, then, directed not so much to abstract Pharisees
and scribes, but to ourselves. It is for our benefit and reflection that they
have been included in the Gospel. The Gospel is written for us and to us; it is
not a historical diatribe against certain people in the past.
Jesus first of all emphasises that as people in authority
and experts on the subject, the scribes and Pharisees should be listened to
with respect and they should be obeyed when they teach. But Jesus says that
their behaviour—their example—should not be followed:
They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on
the shoulders of others, but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to
move them.
They have no hesitation in drawing up rules which are
difficult for people to carry out but they do absolutely nothing to help in
their implementation. The Church has not always been without guilt in this kind
of thing, even in our own day. Nor have civil legislators or other people in
authority, including parents of families or teachers in schools, been without
fault. This is the double standard, where people set the rules which they
themselves do not keep: “Do as I say, not as I do” or “Do it because I tell you
to do it.”
Secondly, the Pharisees are attacked because everything they
do is to attract attention to themselves. But it is all on the outside. What we
call today ‘image’. Their phylacteries were bigger than others’ and their
tassels huge. The phylactery was a small box containing some of the central
words of the Law. It was worn on the arm or the forehead, a literal
interpretation of the exhortation in Exodus:
[The law] shall serve for you as a sign on your hand and
as a reminder on your forehead, so that the teaching of the Lord may be on your
lips, for with a strong hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. (Ex
13:9)
There were four tassels, sewn at each corner of one’s cloak.
The message given is clear: “We are better; we are holier.”
But it is a sham because it is all on the outside. That said, when it comes to
‘image’, our contemporary world has nothing to learn from the past.
They also expect special attention to be given to them: the
first row in the synagogue, places of honour at banquets, special honorific
titles. Sad to say, we have seen this not infrequently among church clerics in
our own lifetime. We see it daily among our politicians, business leaders, our
media personalities. They are not only given these things, they expect them as
a right. It is the VIP syndrome and often it is pathetic: the private jet, the
executive lounge in the airport, the special table in the restaurant, the
limousine from the hotel and other such luxuries.
Even ordinary people become slaves of an image: the brand
label on the clothes they wear, the places where they live, the cars they
drive, and all the other consumer baubles with which they surround themselves.
None of these things, says Jesus, makes a person great.
The greatest is the one who serves, that is, the person who
uses his or her gifts for the benefit of others, whose whole life is dedicated
to making this world a better place for others to live in. That is the type of
person to whom such trappings are totally irrelevant.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1207g/
Saturday,
August 23, 2025
Ordinary
Time
Opening Prayer
God our Father,
may we love you in all things and
above all things and reach the joy you have prepared for us beyond all our
imagining.
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.
Gospel Reading - Matthew 23: 1-12
Then addressing the crowds and his disciples Jesus said, 'The
scribes and the
Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must
therefore do and observe what they tell you; but do not be guided by what they
do, since they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy burdens and
lay them on people's shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them? Not
they! Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing broader
headbands and longer tassels, like wanting to take the place of honor at
banquets and the front seats in the synagogues, being greeted respectfully in
the market squares and having people call them Rabbi. 'You, however, must not
allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, since you have only one Master, and you
are all brothers. You must call no one on earth your father, since you have
only one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor must you allow yourselves to be called
teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you
must be your servant. Anyone who raises himself up will be humbled, and anyone
who humbles himself will be raised up.
Reflection
Today’s Gospel is part of a long criticism of
Jesus against the Scribes and the Pharisees (Mt 23: 1-39). Luke and Mark
mention only a few lines of this criticism against the religious heads of the
time. It is only the Gospel of Matthew which has a longer presentation of this.
This very severe text makes us foresee the polemics which existed in the
communities of Matthew with the communities of the Jews of Galilee and Syria of
that time.
In reading this text, which is strongly
contrary to the one of the Pharisees, we have to be very attentive so as not to
be unjust against the Jewish People. We Christians, for centuries, have had
attitudes against the Jews and, for this reason, against the Christians. What
is important in meditating these texts is to discover their objective. Jesus
condemns the lack of coherence and of sincerity in the relationship with God
and with the neighbor. He is speaking about hypocrisy, that of yesterday as
well as that of today, of our hypocrisy!
•
Matthew 23: 1-3: The basic error: they say, but they do not do. Jesus addresses himself
to the multitude and to the disciples and criticizes the Scribes and the
Pharisees. The reason for attacking them is the incoherence between their words
and their acts. They speak but they do not do. Jesus recognizes the authority
and the knowledge of the Scribes “The
Scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses! You must, therefore, do
and observe what they tell you, but do not be guided by what they do, since
they do not practice what they preach.”
•
Matthew 23: 4-7: The fundamental error is manifested in diverse ways. The
fundamental error is incoherence: “They
say, but they do not do.” Jesus enumerates the diverse points which reveal
this incoherence. Some Scribes and Pharisees imposed heavy laws upon the
people. They knew the Laws well, but they did not practice them; neither did
they use their knowledge to lessen the weight imposed upon the people. They did
everything possible to be seen and praised, they wore special tunics for
prayer, and they liked the first places and to be greeted in the public
squares. They wanted to be called “Teacher.” They represented a type of
community which maintained, legitimized, and nourished the difference of social
classes. It legitimized the privileges of the great and the inferior position
of the little ones. Now, if there is something which displeases Jesus, it is
appearances which deceive.
•
Matthew 23: 8-12: How to overcome the fundamental error. How should a Christian
community be? All the community functions should be assumed as a service: “The greatest among you must be your
servant!” You should call nobody Teacher (Rabbi), nor Father, nor Guide;
because the community of Jesus has to maintain, legitimize and nourish not the
differences, but rather the fraternal spirit. This is the fundamental Law:
•
“You are all brothers and sisters!” The
fraternal spirit comes from the experience that Jesus is Father, and makes of
all of us brothers and sisters. “Anyone who raises himself up will be humbled,
and anyone who humbles himself will be raised up.”
•
The group of the Pharisees! The group of the
Pharisees was born in the II century before Christ, with the proposal of a more
perfect observance of the Law of God, especially regarding the prescriptions on
purity. They were more open to novelty than the Sadducees. For example, they
accepted faith in the Resurrection and faith in the angels, something which the
Sadducees did not accept. The life of the Pharisees was an exemplary witness:
they prayed and studied the Law during eight hours a day; they worked eight
hours in order to be able to survive; they dedicated eight hours to rest. This
is the reason why people respected them very much. And in this way, they helped
people to keep their own identity and not to lose it, in the course of
centuries.
•
The so-called Pharisaic mentality. With time,
the Pharisees took hold of power and no longer listened to the appeals of the
people, nor did they allow them to speak. The word “Pharisee” means
“separated.” Their observance was so strict and rigorous that they separated
themselves from the rest of the people. This is why they were called
“separated.” From this comes the expression “pharisaic mentality.” It is
typical of the persons who think to obtain justice through the rigid and
rigorous observance of the Law. Generally, they are persons who are afraid, who
do not have the courage to assume the risk of liberty and of the
responsibility. They hide themselves behind the Law and the authority. When
these persons obtain an important function, they become harsh and insensitive
and indifferent to hide their own imperfection.
•
Rabbi, Guide, Teacher, Father. These are four
titles that Jesus prohibits people to use. Today, in Church, the priests are
called “Father.” Many study in the University of the Church and obtain the
title of “Doctor” (Teacher). Many persons receive spiritual direction and take
advice from persons who are called “Spiritual directors” (Guides). What is
important is to take into account the reason which impelled Jesus to prohibit
the use of these titles. If these were used by persons in order to affirm their
position of authority and their power, these persons would be in error and
would be criticized by Jesus. If these titles were used to nourish and deepen
the fraternal spirit and service, they would not be criticized by Jesus.
Personal Questions
•
Which is my reason for living and working in
community?
•
How does the community help me to correct and to
improve my motivations?
Concluding Prayer
I am listening.
What is God's message?
Yahweh's message is peace for his people, for his
faithful, if only they renounce their folly. (Ps 85: 8)
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