TUESDAY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - Mt 23:23-26 - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

"Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!" (Mt 23:24)

READING OF THE DAY

A reading from the Second Letter ot the Thessalonians

2 THES 2:1-3A, 14-17

We ask you, brothers and sisters,

with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ

and our assembling with him,

not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly,

or to be alarmed either by a “spirit,” or by an oral statement,

or by a letter allegedly from us

to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.

Let no one deceive you in any way.

To this end he has also called you through our Gospel

to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firm

and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught,

either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,

who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement

and good hope through his grace,

encourage your hearts and strengthen them

in every good deed and word.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Matthew

MT 23:23-26

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.”

TUESDAY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - Mt 23:23-26

THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

The Word of God for Everyone

Dear People of God,

Today's Word of God tells the entire community of God's people to never live hypocritically but rather live truly as the person that God created from the beginning.

In today's Gospel, Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees of old: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites." Through that, God also reminds everyone: do not let God say the word 'woe' to you; because "woe" is a very severe rebuke that God will reserve to punish those who live deceitfully, hypocritically, arrogantly, sinfully, and greedily before God.

God is the Most High, the Almighty. He sees clearly all creatures in heaven and on earth, and He knows everything from the thoughts and hearts of each person. Therefore, He advises His disciples, as well as all those who believe in the power of the Supreme God, to never live hypocritically before God but to live with a kind heart full of love and forgiveness, which is the heart that God has given to humanity since the creation of mankind.

God also said that those who know how to live with a righteous conscience before God, that person pleases Him, and He will give worthy rewards. As for those who live in greed and hypocrisy before God, He is not pleased, and because He is Holy, a God of love, yet He is also infinitely just. He will give us the freedom to follow Him, but we must bear His punishments, to be purified and cleansed by Him.

Therefore, it is better that while we are still living on earth, we should make every effort to take advantage of every opportunity and time that God gives us to live truly uprightly and righteously before God and before our brothers and sisters.

Thanks be to God. Amen.