Being rational and free, human beings are capable of being diabolic. This is a feat which no animal can duplicate, for no animal is sufficiently clever, sufficiently purposeful, sufficiently strong-willed or sufficiently moral to be evil. (We should note that, to be diabolic on the grand scale, one must, like Milton's
Satan, exhibit in a high degree all the moral virtues, except charity and wisdom.)
- Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy
(Pray for the grace to grow in charity and
wisdom.)
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2 THES 2:1-3A, 14-17; PS 96:10, 11-12, 13 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.” Reflection on the Scriptures
Today’s gospel from Matthew makes me ask what constitutes hypocrisy. Some things seem pretty obvious like politicians constantly thanking veterans but voting against their health care . But most things are murkier. Jesus surely wants us to understand the people who secretly got vaccinated for Covid but let people think they hadn’t because tthey were afraid of being socially ostracized. Fear keeps lots of people silent on moral issues on which they should speak out but does this make them hypocrites? Don’t ask me to judge.
In today’s gospel, Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites or making a show of practicing their religion while neglecting the important fundamentals. It’s a trap lots of people fall into because specific rules make it easy to say what’s good and what’s bad. Such people want to be sure what they are doing is good, not debate moral theology, especially as things change.
by Eileen Wirth
The Existence of God by Francois Fenelon SECTION XX.
Admirable Order in which all the Bodies that make up the Universe are ranged. Let us now consider the wonders that shine equally both in the
largest and the smallest bodies. On the one side, I see the sun so many thousand times bigger than the earth; I see him circulating in a space, in comparison of which he is himself but a bright atom. I see other stars, perhaps still bigger than he, that roll in other regions, still farther distant from us. Beyond those regions, which escape all measure, I still
confusedly perceive other stars, which can neither be counted nor distinguished. The earth, on which I stand, is but one point, in proportion to the whole, in which no bound can ever be found. The whole is so well put together, that not one single atom can be put out of its place without unhinging this immense machine; and it moves in such excellent order that its very motion perpetuates its variety and
perfection. Sure it must be the hand of a being that does everything without any trouble that still keeps steady, and governs this great work for so many ages; and whose fingers play with the universe, to speak with the Scripture. |
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