The Gospel according to Luke 11:42-46
The Lord said: “Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others. Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces. Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.” Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply, “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.” And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”
Reflection: Some of the best teachers that I have known in my life were the ones who shared their true-life experiences with their students. Recalling for us students those times in their lives that ultimately formed ‘who’ they turned out to be. They also blended those examples into the subjects that they were teaching. Some of them were inciteful and taught us ‘What’ to do as well as what ‘Not’ to do. The best part of these examples was that they were ‘Real’ in their explanations and believable. Not just analogies from a book but from real life situations, real life experiences.
The teachers and the Pharisees from this Gospel seem to have either, never did what they were asking. “Burdens hard to carry” or have forgotten where they came from. Those hard decisions resulting in some type of personal sacrifice where there was not even a good decision to make.
I could give a long list of the ‘New” Pharisees of the world, just look around us. Start with those who govern our lives. Are they looking out for what is best for the many or are their concerns only with the ones who invest in their re-election and ego? Conversely do “We’ get involved with making our voices heard? Do you know who your local city representative is? Why not? Make your voice as well as your vote heard.
Our Catholic Faith has the power, in our numbers, to help make the best changes for the many. We can affect the change that is needed in our country as well as this world.
Action of the Day: Today, start to make a change in how each one of us treats one another. How we talk to each other and how compassionately we treat all our sisters and brothers that we come in contact with every single day!
Audio Reflection:
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