21st Week in Ordinary Time
Louis of France / Joseph Calasanz

1st Reading: 1 Thes 2:1–8

Gospel: Mt 23:23–26
Jesus said, “Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You do not forget the mint, anise and cumin seeds when you pay the tenth of everything, but then you forget what is most fundamental in the Law: justice, mercy and faith. These you must practice, without neglecting the others. Blind guides! You strain out a mosquito, but swallow a camel.
“Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You fill the plate and the cup with theft and violence, and then pronounce a blessing over them. Blind Pharisee! Purify the inside first, then the outside too will be purified.”

Commentary
The scribes and Pharisees extended the law into every aspect of life. It filled their lives and became the purpose of their being. They reflected their expansion of the law and left off the search for the heart of God. In the process, their lives no longer reflected the way, the love, the life, of God’s heart.
This was why Jesus said that they were blind guides leading the blind. They knew the surface of the law, but not that which supported the law, God’s heart…God’s love. Because of this lack of understanding they went astray. If the law was a bowl of soup they could pick out the smallest thing that didn’t belong and yet the biggest themes would be swallowed whole. Upon swallowing a camel, it then became a part of the body of law. It was in the applying of this new false understanding of the law that led to their mistakes in thinking, to which Jesus referred. We are what we are inside of us. Our outward motives may keep the outside clean, while the inside is filthy. But if we want to achieve newness of life, we must begin by cleansing our interior selves.

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