August 25
Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intentions
7:45 AM – William Pole / Kathy Kotz
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Readings
First Reading
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
You recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery. Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the Gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers. As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.
And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 139:7-8, 9-10, 11-12ab
R. (1) You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
Where can I go from your spirit?
From your presence where can I flee?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
Even there your hand shall guide me,
and your right hand hold me fast.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall hide me,
and night shall be my light”–
For you darkness itself is not dark,
and night shines as the day.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
Gospel Acclamation
1 John 2:5
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever keeps the word of Christ,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Matthew 23:27-32
Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’ Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets; now fill up what your ancestors measured out!”
“You have searched me and you know me, Lord.”
Reflection
In referring to the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus says they are like “whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.” Again, difficult language for us to hear because often we may consider ourselves whitewashed with our outward faith in Jesus, and yet our interior leaves something to be desired.
Today, Jesus speaks of that interior life. Does our interior life match our exterior and how others perceive us? There are times when we may have an abiding faith deep within our heart but fail to act on that faith and thus we may appear to be non-believers. On the contrary, we may feel dead and empty of faith inside but portray ourselves as faith-filled individuals. This type of action is what Jesus criticizes today. If we truly want to appear faithful to others, then we must value what it means to be faithful. If this is the case, we need to work on our interior life so that we truly to become people who pray and believe in the only Son of God and His Church. We can only work on improving our interior life through prayer.
May our outward appearance, reflect the deep, abiding faith that we all long for within our soul.
Peace,
Fr. John
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