Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Reflecting on the Wednesday scriptures now for eight years, sometimes feels repetitive however the Spirit of God often illuminates the readings with experiences that are eerily timely. In the last few weeks I met a patient that knew themselves well. The crux of our conversation challenged both the patient and myself like the words of Jesus in today’s gospel: “on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy”.
I believe inherent in the hardwiring of our brains, we have sensors which offer us intuitions about our thoughts, words, and actions. This input from our intellect is confronted by strength of our will. Like alarm fatigue, our desensitized will can hear the alert but hit the moral snooze button. In the discussion with this patient there was an intense desire that the moral image they presented, reflected the internal reality. The issue being these two realities had been incongruent for a long time.
Change is difficult and today’s readings remind us how deeply rooted hypocrisy is in our humanity. Overcoming our weaknesses is a process which demands discipline, fortitude, “toil” and at times “drudgery.” Perhaps Jesus’ confrontation is harsh because the Pharisees have completely suppressed the will for doing the good.
In the reading from the Thessalonians, Paul’s challenge which he has expressed through exhortation and encouragement was that the disciples need to walk in a manner that is worthy of God. This call to righteousness directly reminds each of us that we need to live in a way that glorifies the Lord. Our behavior must be blameless otherwise we are not preaching the Kingdom from God.
We preach the kingdom of God by having vibrant lives of faith by living what we believe. Today we are challenged to look inside and grow in awareness of our snooze buttons. Reflect on one way you could to change your interior life; commit to that change.
“Lord, help set a fire in our hearts allowing our interior spirit to become more perfectly formed so that our lives outwardly reflect the Word of God. Amen!”
Deacon Michael Montgomery