August 26, 2025
Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 426
Reading 1
You yourselves know, brothers and sisters,
that our reception among you was not without effect.
Rather, after we had suffered and been insolently treated,
as you know, in Philippi,
we drew courage through our God
to speak to you the Gospel of God with much struggle.
Our exhortation was not from delusion or impure motives,
nor did it work through deception.
But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the Gospel,
that is how we speak,
not as trying to please men,
but rather God, who judges our hearts.
Nor, indeed, did we ever appear with flattering speech, as you know,
or with a pretext for greed–God is witness–
nor did we seek praise from men,
either from you or from others,
although we were able to impose our weight as Apostles of Christ.
Rather, we were gentle among you,
as a nursing mother cares for her children.
With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you
not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well,
so dearly beloved had you become to us.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1) You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know the whole of it.
Behind me and before, you hem me in
and rest your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
too lofty for me to attain.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of God is living and effective,
able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082625.cfm
Commentary on 1
Thessalonians 2:1-8
Although Paul in yesterday’s reading praised the
Thessalonians for the depth of their faith whose reputation had spread far and
wide, he recalls today some of the difficulties he faced at first in bringing
the gospel message to the city.
Paul had experienced such great opposition in Thessalonica
that he and Silas had to be secretly escorted from the city (Acts
17:1-10). This came on top of the humiliating experiences he had in
Philippi where he and Silas were, as a result of false accusations, arrested,
flogged and thrown into prison (from which they were rescued by an
earthquake!). It is probably the memory of these experiences which underlies
his words today recalling his selflessness in preaching the gospel to them, his
affection for them, and the pleasant relationships he has with them now.
He begins by saying that they themselves know his visit to
the Thessalonians has not been without effect. The local church could refute
accusations of insincerity which seem to have been levelled against Paul by
certain hostile elements. In spite of the terrible abuse, including
imprisonment, which he and Silas endured at Philippi, God still gave them the
courage to preach the gospel fearlessly to the Thessalonians, even though they
met with opposition there also.
When they first arrived, Paul made some converts among the
Jews and a larger number among the Greeks, but his activities aroused the anger
and indignation of many Jews, who did not like Paul presenting Jesus as the
Messiah. These stirred up a riot in the city. The result was that
Jason, a supporter of Paul, and his family were seized, while Paul and his
companion Silas had to be hurriedly taken away to another town.
Paul now assures the Thessalonians that his exhortations do
not come from any deceit or impure motives or trickery. The Greek word
for ‘trickery’ was originally used of bait for catching fish and came to be
used of any sort of cunning used for personal gain.
On the contrary, Paul and companions have God’s approval to
be entrusted with the proclamation of the gospel and that is the basis of their
preaching—to please God and not human beings. For it is God who “tests
our hearts”. In fact, they have never been motivated either by a desire to be
flattered or for personal gain. They have never sought any special
honours either from the Thessalonians or anyone else, even though they could
have insisted on their own dignity and prestige as apostles and messengers of
Christ, or that materially they could have expected to have been fed and kept
at the Thessalonians’ expense. Although Paul strongly believed that those
preaching the gospel had the right to be supported by the communities they
visited, he himself preferred to be self-supporting.
On the contrary, he says that they live a simple life and
their concern is only those they serve:
So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to
share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you
have become very dear to us.
At the same time, he and his co-workers are treating the
Thessalonians with the greatest gentleness:
But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly
caring for her own children.
What is always so striking is how Paul can see the hand of
Christ in all that happens to him and his sheer unstoppable enthusiasm in
sharing the gospel message with others, whatever the obstacles. This was
because the message was not just something he was handing on; it had entered
the very fibre of his being. As he will say elsewhere:
…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives
in me. (Galatians 2:20)
Would that each one of us could say the same! We
cannot be preachers of the gospel until it is fully absorbed into our very
selves. It cannot be just a set of doctrines which we hold to be
true. We need the burning enthusiasm of Paul.
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Commentary on
Matthew 23:23-26
Today we continue reading the ‘Seven Woes’ listed in
yesterday’s commentary. Today’s reading contains the fourth and fifth.
4. …you tithe mint, dill and cumin… (vv
23-24)
In continuing his attack on Pharisaism, Jesus touches on two
issues which are certainly relevant to our Christian living today. First, he
attacks the mentality of those who are sticklers for tiny details of ritual or
doctrine while ignoring the fundamental issues of justice, compassion and good
faith. The Mosaic Law levied a tithe on agricultural produce. Some rabbis
scrupulously applied the law to the most insignificant of plants.
A strict Pharisee too would carefully filter his drinking
water in case he might swallow a small insect, which would be regarded as
unclean. But, in being so careful of such minutiae, he might well overlook
matters of much deeper importance. Jesus is not criticising a conscientious
carrying out of rules and regulations, but it is the attitude of hypocritical
moral superiority which he attacks.
One can meet Catholics too who tie themselves in knots
trying to observe the most petty regulations and can end up becoming the
prisoner of scruples. What is more, they can be highly critical of others whom
they regard as ‘lax’. An example might be people who are more worried about not
having observed a full 60 minutes of fast before Communion than focusing on
what the wider implications of participating in the Eucharist really mean.
5. …you clean the outside of the cup and of the
plate… (vv 25-26)
The second point that Jesus makes is to criticise those who
concentrate on the tiniest details of external behaviour while totally ignoring
the inner spirit. There are certain Christians who speak and write at length
about all the things that are not being done right in the liturgy of the
Catholic Church, and who claim for themselves a level of doctrinal and moral
orthodoxy to which even Rome does not attain. Sometimes even the Pope does not
come up to their expectations.
What is striking about these people is the almost total
absence of a sense of love and compassion in their writings and actions. They
are only interested in ‘truth’ and ‘orthodoxy’, as if these things could exist
outside of the nitty-gritty of human living. They can be more concerned about
the tiniest rubrical details of the liturgy than about the Eucharist as truly a
sacrament of a loving community prayerfully centred on the Person of Christ.
On the outside, the behaviour is impeccable, but inside
there is a total lack of a true gospel spirit—the spirit of love and integrity,
of compassion and a sense of justice for all. Instead, there can be a heart
full of self-righteousness, criticism, anger, resentment or contempt for those
who do not think the same, all cloaked in this outer veneer of moral and ritual
rectitude.
The two attitudes are closely related and all of us can be
touched by them in one degree or another. Let him or her who has never
criticised another fellow-Christian cast the first stone!
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1213g/
Tuesday,
August 26, 2025
Ordinary
Time
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.
Gospel Reading - Matthew 23: 23-26
Jesus said: 'Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You pay your tithe of mint and dill and cummin and have neglected
the weightier matters of the Law-justice, mercy, good faith! These you should
have practiced, those not neglected. You blind guides, straining out gnats and
swallowing camels! 'Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You
clean the outside of cup and dish and leave the inside full of extortion and
intemperance. Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside of cup and dish first so that it
and the outside are both clean.
Reflection
The Gospel today presents two other times
that this expression was used: ‘Alas for you...’ when Jesus speaks against the
religious leaders of his time. The two ‘Alas for you...’ of today denounce the
lack of coherence between word and attitude, between exterior and interior.
Today we continue our reflection which we begun yesterday.
•
Matthew 23: 23-24 - The fifth ‘Alas for you...’
against those who insist on the observance and forget mercy. You pay your tithe
of mint and dill and cummin and have neglected the weightier matters of the
Law: justice, mercy and fidelity.” This fifth ‘Alas for you...’ of Jesus is
against the religious leaders of that time and can be repeated against many
religious of the following century even up to our time. Many times, in the name
of Jesus, we insist on details, and we forget mercy. For example, Jansenism
reduces lived faith to something arid, insisting on the observance and penance
which led people away from the way of love. The Carmelite Sister Teresa of
Lisieux grew in the Jansenism environment which marked France at the end of the
XIX century. Beginning from a personal painful experience, she knew how to
recover the gratuity of love of God, a force which should animate the
observance of the norms from within; because without love, the observance makes
an idol of God.
•
Matthew 23: 25-26 - The sixth ‘Alas for you...’
against those who clean things on the outside and are dirty inside. “You clean
the outside of the cup and dish and leave the inside full of extortion and
intemperance. In the Sermon on the Mountain, Jesus criticizes those who observe
the letter of the Law and transgress the spirit of the Law. He says: "You
have heard how it was said to our ancestors, You shall not kill, and if anyone
does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say to you anyone who
is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court. Anyone who calls
his brother ‘Fool’ will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and anyone who
calls him ‘Traitor’ will answer for it in hell fire. You have heard that it was
said, You shall not commit adultery, but I say this to you, if a man looks at a
woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt
5: 21-22. 27-28). It is not sufficient to observe the letter of the Law. It is
not sufficient not to kill, not to rob, not to commit adultery, not to swear in
order to be faithful to what God asks of us. The one who observes fully the Law
of God is the one who, besides observing the letter, goes deeply to the root and
pulls out from within “the desires of extortion and intemperance” which may
lead to murder, theft, and adultery. The fullness of the law is realized in the
practice of love.
Personal Questions
•
There are two expressions of ‘Alas for you...’
two reasons to receive the criticism from Jesus. Which of these two applies to
me?
•
Observance and gratuity: Which of these applies
to me?
Concluding Prayer
Proclaim God’s salvation day after day, declare his
glory among the nations, his marvels to every people! (Ps 96: 2-3)
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