** This reflection has been reposted from Diocesan Archives.**
Does your outside match your inside? Actions, as they say, speak far louder than words. We reveal so much more of ourselves by our behavior than from what we say. However, even if we sometimes fool the world, we can never hide the truth from God.
No wonder today’s Gospel calling out the Pharisees is paired with Psalm 128, particularly the responsorial refrain, “Blessed are those who fear the Lord.” God’s knowledge of us goes so far beyond what we can imagine, for He has created us. He knows every hair on our heads, our comings in our goings, and our inner beings. What good does it do us to even attempt to hide from God? What objective do we hope to accomplish? If we believe in Him, should not our whole being become a symphony of pleasing Him? Every moment in harmony with the life of grace and holiness His love calls us to?
Through sin and temptation, we can fail, we can fall, we can even attempt to evade, but regardless of what we do, because of what He did, we are never lost. Even if we become unwittingly whitewashed tombs, God is there to rescue our souls with the vivid color of His grace. On the outside, a perfectly crafted faithful avatar to show the world, but inside we rail against many of God’s teachings.
Jesus calls the Pharisees “Hypocrites”. Looking at your life, does this harsh term apply to who you have allowed yourself to be? Do your Christian insides match your outsides? You search me, and you know me, Lord. You know there are days I struggle to attend Mass or even to pray. You know, my battle with gossip and judging, and all the sins I continually bring to my Confessor. You know I doubt, fear, and forget some days to bring these weaknesses to you in prayer.
Loving God, never leave me without hope. “Whoever keeps the word of Christ, the love of God is truly perfected in him” (Alleluia verse). May you find more of you and less of me the next time you search me, God. May my insides match more closely the outside, especially that image of me who longs to love and live like you.
Daily Reading
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Dt 4:1-2, 6-8 Moses said to the people:“Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decreeswhich I am teaching you to observe,that you may live, and may enter in and…
Saint of the Day
Saint Anna the Prophetess
Saint Anna the Prophetess recognized Jesus’s significance when many overlooked Him. She stood by Mary, embodying grace, guiding her during formative years.
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