Genuine, authentic persons
In today’s first reading, Paul, speaking from experience, gives us the spirituality of an apostle. An apostle has to preach not his own message, but God’s – straightforward, without duplicity, without personal gain, for it is God’s Good News. The apostle must also be ready to suffer for the Gospel, as a suffering servant of the Gospel, yet with assurance, for he derives his courage from God. The apostle loves the people to whom he is sent and shares with them not only the Good News but his very life. Let us to pray the Lord for this kind of missionaries and leaders and let us try to be this type in our own little way.
There is always the danger that religions turn into a kind of ritualism that imposes practices of little meaning as if they were the saving factors. Ritualism and rubricism is still raising its ugly head even after Vatican II. How ridiculous, almost superstitious! Equally ridiculous because it is empty, is a religion that professes to have faith but minimizes or shuns religious practices. Be sure that with this attitude quite rampant in our time, true faith disappears.
Reading: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
So, friends, it’s obvious that our visit to you was no waste of time. We had just been given rough treatment in Philippi, as you know, but that didn’t slow us down. We were sure of ourselves in God, and went right ahead and said our piece, presenting God’s Message to you, defiant of the opposition.
God tested us thoroughly to make sure we were qualified to be trusted with this Message. Be assured that when we speak to you we’re not after crowd approval—only God approval. Since we’ve been put through that battery of tests, you’re guaranteed that both we and the Message are free of error, mixed motives, or hidden agendas. We never used words to butter you up. No one knows that better than you. And God knows we never used words as a smoke screen to take advantage of you.
Even though we had some standing as Christ’s apostles, we never threw our weight around or tried to come across as important, with you or anyone else. We weren’t aloof with you. We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children. We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.
Gospel: Matthew 23:23-26
Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them, “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that’s wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?
“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.
Prayer
Truthful, authentic, genuine God,
you are the truth in its fullness.
Immerse us in your truth,
that we may emerge as truthful persons
who do not bother about outward appearances
but live in the likeness of Jesus Christ, your Son.
Thus, make it possible for us to live
in communion with one another in mutual trust,
one in his Spirit,
today and every day and for ever. Amen.
