Saint Monica
Weekday liturgy (Year 1) — White
1st Reading
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3a, 14-17
Lectio (Reading)
We ask you, brothers and sisters,
with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
and our assembling with him,
not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly,
or to be alarmed either by a “spirit,” or by an oral statement,
or by a letter allegedly from us
to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.
Let no one deceive you in any way.
To this end he has also called you through our Gospel
to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firm
and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught,
either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,
who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement
and good hope through his grace,
encourage your hearts and strengthen them
in every good deed and word.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 96:10, 11-12, 13
Lectio (Reading)
R. (13b) The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Say among the nations: The LORD is king.
He has made the world firm, not to be moved;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Before the LORD, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
2nd Reading
Gospel Reading
Matthew 23:23-26
Lectio (Reading)
Jesus said:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean.”
Meditatio (Reflecting)
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Oratio (Responding)
Messages like this, make it easy to understand why the pharisees, wanted to kill Jesus. He was making enemies with these words. But imagine being a layperson during this time, living under the tyranny of the jewish leaders law. It must have been shocking to see a man go against the entire power structure of their time. But the faithful jew Should also have known the prophecy and recognized Jesus as messiah.
So why did they torture and kill Him instead. For the same reason that Satan fell, Pride! These jewish leaders knew that when the Lord returned, everything in their lives would change. And Jesus said as much in His preaching. He said the first will be last, and the last will be first. These pharisees, knew that to follow Jesus, they would have to give up their power, and prestige, and comfortable lives, and instead, they would have to serve. Sadly, just like Satan, they said that they would not do that, and the inevitable happened, they tried to destroy the one person that stood in the way of their power.
But instead, they actually ended up exalting Him above all men. To me the the jews of this time acted exactly the way that I would expect powerful people to act, what boggles my mind is that there are jews today that still think that Jesus was just a man. But that is a different reflection. But todays message is clear, and speaks directly to us. The outside world does not defile us, we are instead defiled by our own sinful nature, and by the choices that we make, so to repent we must seek first to change ourselves from the inside, and then the outside will follow, but the choice is yours, and yours alone.
Contemplatio (Contemplating)
Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.
Resolutio (Resolving)
Oh lord, please give me the wisdom and understanding that i need to identify what inside me is defiled, and keeping me from you, and help me to change and cleanse that sin from my life. Amen.