GOSPEL POWER l AUGUST 23, 2022 - Tuesday of 21st Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Rose of Lima, virgin

Gospel: Mt 23:23-26 

Jesus said, 23“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For  you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier  matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought  to have practiced without neglecting the others. 24You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! 25“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean  the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of  greed and self-indulgence. 26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside  of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.” 

The weightier things of the law involve relationships,  for the heart of the law is love. Justice, mercy, and faith  unfold in the context of relationships — with God and with  neighbor — and define those relationships. Entering a relationship  necessitates the investment of oneself, for it entails giving space to  another person in one’s own life. This can be costly and demanding,  but there is no other way to become what we are meant to be in God’s  design, except by being in relationship. The scribes and Pharisees, by  focusing on the less essential aspects of the law, avoid the cost and  demand of nurturing relationships. But what a woe!

 Lord Jesus, keep our gaze fixed on what truly matters to God. Amen