GOSPEL POWER l JULY 1, 2022 - Friday of 13th Week in Ordinary Time 

Saint Junipero Serra, priest

GOSPEL : Mt 9:9-13 

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting  at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up  and followed him. 10And as he sat at dinner in the house, many  tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his  disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples,  “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12But  when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a  physician, but those who are sick. 13Go and learn what this means, ‘I  desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous  but sinners.” 

The title “Pharisee” is derived from the Hebrew verb  parash, which means “to separate.” True to the sense of  that title, Pharisees seek to separate themselves from anyone  and anything unclean, to avoid contamination that will render  them unworthy to offer sacrifices. Unconsciously, Pharisees also  create a separation within their own person — focusing only on the  exterior and neglecting what is interior. And because they are not in  touch with their interior state, they can judge and call other people  “sinners,” considering themselves exempt from this category. Their  observance of purification rituals and devotion to the letter of the  law reinforce their illusion of sinlessness and widen the dichotomy between an external appearance of holiness and an interior state of  corruption. Their condition is worse than that of the sinners they  disdain, because they are sick but believe otherwise and thus do not  sense their need of a physician. 

Lord Jesus, deliver us from the peril of losing our sense of sin. Be merciful  to us, sinners! Amen