Let your words teach and your actions speak

“At the Day of Judgement we shall not be asked what we have read but what we have done.”  - Thomas à Kempis

(Gospel Text: Mt 23:13-22)

Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men.

You do not enter yourselves,

nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You traverse sea and land to make one convert,

and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna

twice as much as yourselves.

"Woe to you, blind guides, who say,

'If one swears by the temple, it means nothing,

but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.'

Blind fools, which is greater, the gold,

or the temple that made the gold sacred?

And you say, 'If one swears by the altar, it means nothing,

but if one swears by the gift on the altar, one is obligated.'

You blind ones, which is greater, the gift,

or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it;

one who swears by the temple swears by it

and by him who dwells in it;

one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God

and by him who is seated on it."

Part of being human means making mistakes and experiencing errors.  Such is fine.  But it no longer remains fine when we become wrapped up in the mindset that life is nothing but a do over and that we can make as many mistakes as we knowingly desire to make just because we can and still get away with it.

Today God is reminding us to seek him and to live him. 

He is kindly, but bluntly, reminding us that we are prone to mishap and that we must be cognizant of what it is we say, do, or think, and more importantly, why it is that we do such.  Today God is inviting us to remain close friends (more than that, actually) with him and to continue onward with the progress we have made so far.  These reality checks are vital to our spirituality and they are crucial to helping us become aware of where we slip up.

May we take some time today to reflect over where we have fallen short, where we have actively separated ourselves from God, and by what means we are doing that.  May we ask for true forgiveness and may we actively try to mean the words we so simply say, “I’m sorry.”  God loves us and he wants us to experience such. 

“God is love and all who live in love, abide in God, and God abides in them.” 

May we today work towards the personal journey to abiding in God; may our reward be God himself continuing to abide in us.