Wednesday,
October 12, 2016
28th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Gal 5: 18-25
Gospel: Lk 11:42-46
Jesus said, “A curse is on you, Pharisees; for the Temple you give a tenth of all, including mint and rue and the other herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. This ought to be practiced, without neglecting the other. A curse is on you, Pharisees, for you love the best seats in the synagogues and to be greeted in the marketplace. A curse is on you for you are like tombstones of the dead which can hardly be seen; people don’t notice them and make themselves unclean by stepping on them.”
Then a teacher of the Law spoke up and said, “Master, when you speak like this, you insult us, too.” And Jesus answered, “A curse is on you also, teachers of the Law. For you prepare unbearable burdens and load them on the people, while you yourselves don’t move a finger to help them.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in
the Assimilated Life Experience)
The Pharisees were meticulous in paying tithes for God but were also very unjust to fellowmen. Jesus pointed this out and advised them to shape up. He said, “This ought to be practiced, without neglecting the other”. This is what integrity means. An integral person is like an onion. Peel all the layers off an onion and you will find nothing else but onion. As an onion is an onion to the core, an integral person is a good person to the core. The good that his right hand does, his left hand doesn’t contradict with evil deeds.
Without integrity, even honest religious acts become detestable because God detests a duplicitous person. “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you” (Rev. 3:15-16). Thus, a politician who prays but steals from the people is detestable in God’s eyes. No amount of loyalty to the church can launder the soul of the corrupt. So if even good deeds won’t count in a duplicitous person, what a waste of precious lifetime living a life of duplicity!
If the corrupt politician stops going to church because he is impeachable in God’s eyes, anyway; or if he stops donating to the poor because there is no merit in it anyway, he will be throwing truckloads of dry logs to his own furnace in hell. The wiser option is to stop the corruption, and not prayer life and charitable deeds. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “This ought to be practiced, without neglecting the other” (Luke 11:43). While observing piety and doing charitable works, honesty in public service should not be overlooked.
Let us live in integrity lest we waste our life away. (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM, MAPM, REB. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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