Monday, August 25, 201421st Week in Ordinary Time
ST. LOUIS IX
First Reading: 2Thes 1:1-5, 11-12
Gospel Reading:
Mt 23:13-22
Jesus said, “Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door to the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor do you allow others to do so.
“Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel by sea and land to win a single convert, yet once he is converted, you turn him twice as fit for hell as yourselves.
“Woe to you, blind guides! You say: To swear by the Temple is not binding, but to swear by the treasure of the Temple is. Blind fools! Which is of more worth? The gold in the Temple or the Temple which makes the gold a sacred treasure? You say: To swear by the altar is not binding, but to swear by the offering on the altar is. How blind you are! Which is of more value: the offering on the altar or the altar which makes the offering sacred? Whoever swears by the altar is swearing by the altar and by everything on it. Whoever swears by the Temple is swearing by it and by God who dwells in the Temple. Whoever swears by heaven is swearing by the throne of God and by him who is seated on it.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The residents of a certain village complained about a loud-crowing rooster disturbing their sleep. In response to the complaint of his people the village chief had an ordinance passed putting the rooster to death. With the pesky rooster now dead the villagers thought they could finally enjoy a peaceful night sleep. They were wrong. Early dawn the following day all the roosters in the village began to outdo one another in announcing the break of dawn.
Before that ordinance was passed all the roosters in the village acknowledged only one rooster king. When their king was put to death, every rooster was his own king. The moral is: The law, the spirit of which was to give residents better sleep became the law that robbed totally robbed them of their night rest.
We have many laws crafted with the best of intentions. But because of non-judicious implementation, some of these produce not the good intended but harm to constituents. Consider the law in some parishes not to administer the sacraments to parishioners unless they are members of Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC). The intention is to make all parishioners members of BEC, but its non-judicious implementation drives people farther away from the church.
May the spirit of the law prevail, not the letter that kills! – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:[email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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