Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Intention: For all who live in the darkness of poverty, violence, abuse, or neglect, that they may know the comfort of our solidarity and assistance, and the restoration of their security and dignity.
Today’s Gospel | Matthew 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.”
From the Meditation on Saint Louis, King of France | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
In your work you ought to unite zeal for the good of the Church with zeal for the good of the nation of which your disciples are beginning to be and one day ought to be perfect members. You will procure the good of the Church by making them true Christians, docile to the truths of faith and to the maxims of the holy Gospel. You will procure the good of the nation by teaching them how to read and write and everything else that pertains to your ministry with regard to exterior things. But piety must be joined to exterior things; otherwise, your work would be of little use.
Prayer
Eternal Father, so many times your Son challenged those whose self-righteous did harm to others. Heal in us the arrogance and cynicism that poisons our relationships with one another. May we never harden our hearts to your presence or to the wonder of your love at work among us. Help us to see the seeds of holiness and good through which we all can turn ourselves and our nations to your truth and wholeness. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.