Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection August 27, 2024
Twenty-First Week of Ordinary Time
27th August 2024 (Tuesday)
Psalter: Week 1
Reading of the Day
First Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3a, 14-17
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
Psalm 96:10, 11-12a, 12b-13 (R. 13b)
R/. The Lord comes to judge the earth
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. The word of God is living and active, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart
R/. Alleluia.
Gospel : Matthew 23:23-26
At the time: Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
Daily Gospel Reflection
Tuesday – Twenty-First Week of Ordinary Time
Guidelines: True piety is not merely performing a bundle of religious activities. Without neglecting them, it should also lead a person to a life of integrity
1. Jesus continues to reproach the Pharisees and scribes for the same reason of hypocrisy. Today, he specifies and spotlights some other ingredients of hypocrisy. Primarily, it is the distortion of the scale of priorities.
2. They distort the order of priorities: they insist on the secondary rules like tithe, the tenth of everything, but neglect the essentials like justice, mercy, and faith. They donate a little but devour hugely. They disguise their misdeeds under the cover of blessing.
3. They mask their interior impurity by their exterior ablutions. They are satisfied with the external purification but are not bothered about the interior uncleanness with greed and self-indulgence. They should clean both the exterior and interior. The exterior purity should be a sign and a manifestation of the interior purity but not a substitution or cover-up for it.
4. Unlike the Thessalonians in the first reading, they do not really stand firm and hold to the traditions that they were taught. Instead, they are self-conceited and also deceive others. In our times too, there are many who deceive themselves and deceive others as well by a false or defective way of following the religion.
5. There are many modern Pharisees and scribes who make a total mess of the ladder of priorities in life. They reduce the primary to secondary and elevate the secondary or worthless as primary. They are too conscious and meticulous about silly matters but totally neglect the essential values.
6. They appear to be generous givers by giving a little but swallow lakhs and crores. It is like the great moneyed people who cheat in all the ways to acquire profit but put huge amounts into the donation boxes. It is like the thieves or murderers or the villains who pray regularly as if their wrongdoing goes successfully.
7. St Monica, the mother of St Augustine, was a person totally authentic. There were no traces of hypocrisy. She not only lived a life of integrity by herself but also converted her deviant son as well into a saint.
Practice: In a world that gives excessive importance to the mere externals, neglecting the purity of intention and heart, we need to be integrated people.
