Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of St Matthew…In the text Jesus addresses the hypocrisy of the Pharisees….“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter yourselves”…Its important to note the difference between someone who is imperfect, which is all of us and someone who says one thing and does another…….As Catholics we are all sinners and we all fall…However…When we fail we should confess our sins regularly and “get up” and try again…This is how we grow in virtue and holiness…By God’s grace and mercy……This is how we mature as followers of Christ…Our life should speak for itself…..And when actions speak…They speak loudly
I remember speaking to a friend of mine a few years ago….The parish where we grew up was building a new rectory…This friend of mine was Catholic but sadly did not go to Mass anymore….We were speaking before getting on the train to go to work in the morning and he commented about the new rectory being built in town….”Wow, What a beautiful house”….And to be honest, the rectory was very beautiful, far nicer then the homes of probably most of the families that attend Sunday Mass at that parish…This to me speaks volumes…..Pope Francis very clearly said…”The Shepard must smell of the sheep he tends”….Now I am not saying that priests should live in poverty, however, when the clergy live better than the people they serve, that is a problem…That is not something that attracts people to God…..Now…Let me be fair and “turn the page”……One of the many things that attracted me to serving along side of Mother Teresa’s sisters was the fact that they lived the gospel message themselves….They live for the poor and also the sisters themselves live very simply….They have only what they need…..Frankly, this same standard should apply to Catholic families as well…If we have been blessed with a job that pays very well…..Do we live like kings and lord our money over people?…Are we generous?.....Are we open to life and have many children?….Do we buy things simply to “show off”?….The same standard “we” apply to the clergy also applies to the faithful in the pews…..If we say we believe in God…..How we live tells people everything they need to know.
If we do not “walk the walk”….The world will not believe what we claim to believe with the words of our mouth
One of the most impressive things I ever witnessed from Mother Teresa’s sisters was one Saturday afternoon three of the sisters were headed to this poor woman’s house who lived near the convent. The sisters were going there to pay the woman a visit, to clean her apartment and do her laundry for her…..When was the last time you ever saw something like that from priest or a nun?…Better put…When was the last time you have ever done that for a neighbor yourself?…Sadly, I wish I could say I do that for people but I do not…Maybe that is why what I witnessed registered so deeply in my memory……Because when actions speak…They speak loudly!
“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.’
Getting back to the gospel today from St Matthew…No one is perfect and we all fail, however our life needs to do that talking for us…If we say we are Catholic, does the world know it by what it sees as opposed to what we say or “post” on social media?…..Now don’t get me wrong……Its ok to fail….We all do…Never forget you are human and so is your neighbor.....But when we do fail and we will…Do we confess our sins to a Priest?….Repent and try again!….If you do, that does not make you a hypocrite, the likes of which Jesus warned his 12 friends about today in the Gospel…It simply makes you a human being…It makes you a Catholic who is trying…And when you do that…No words are necessary…..That is how the message of Christ spreads…Don’t preach me a sermon….Show me one and when we ground our life in daily prayer, the Sacraments and weekly fasting…This kind of “witness” becomes second nature and do you know what else happens?….In the process we become transformed and when we are transformed…We transform the world around us
People believe what they see….So show them…”You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden”
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