Wednesday, August 28, 2013 21st Week in
Ordinary Time St. Augustine 1st Reading: 1Thes 2: 9-13 Gospel: Mt 23:27-32
Jesus said, “Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs beautiful in appearance, but inside there are only dead bones and uncleanness. In the same way you appear as religious to others, but you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness within.
“Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous. You say: Had we lived in the time of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in the blood of prophets. So, you yourselves confess to be kins of those who murdered the prophets. And now, finish off what your ancestors began!”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The Law of Moses provides that anyone who touches a cadaver becomes unclean (Numbers 19: 16). Soon it became a practice to paint white all tombs to make them more visible to passersby. The mere touching of tombs, even if unintentional, barred pilgrims from entry to the Temple.
While the practice of painting white all tombs was for a good religious purpose, Jesus saw in the practice a fitting demonstration of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.
They did everything to paint their image white to forget the shameful historical truth that they were descendants of murderers of prophets. Jesus correctly argued that by building monuments to a murdered prophet who could not have been killed by any person other than their ancestors, the Pharisees were in effect admitting that they were sons of murderers.
The likes of the Pharisees are still around. A story is told of a group of masked men who entered a church brandishing automatic firearms declaring their intention to kill all Christians after the count of ten. Everyone scampered for the exit door leaving behind those with disabilities. Removing their masks, the intruders told the priest: “Go ahead with the service now; we have already gotten rid of most of the hypocrites.”
Nothing of this sort gives our hypocrisy away at the Masses we attend. But the singing of the Lord’s Prayer alone already serves as a dramatic proclamation of who the hypocrites in the assembly are. Until we give up our vengeful hearts we can never be sincere in singing that song. A composer was resourceful enough to substitute the disturbing phrase “as we forgive those who sin against us” with “forgive us our sins and failures”. He made the tune so touching that most people find the tampering immaterial. Even the whitewashed tomb mentality is still around! – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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