Tuesday of the Second Week in Lent
Readings: Is 1:10, 16-20, Ps 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23, and Mt 23:1-12
These passages contain strong language including the exhortation to listen, when, if anything, a part of me wants to skim over these verses to something less discomforting. So, first of all, I need to ask the Lord to help me to listen. I hear Him admonishing me for the very human propensity toward hypocrisy: being phony; portraying an image of myself that is better than the true condition of my heart; trying to appease God by complying with His rules when my heart wants to do otherwise. Stated positively, these verses bid us to be persons of integrity: to be genuine; persons in whom there is no deceit or pretense.
In addition, these passages impress upon me the need for balance in my Christian walk – balance between inner piety and outer manifestations of my faith. Growing up, I was taught Is.1:18, but only as it pertained to my inner life. Looking at this verse in its context, we see that the exhortation is not only to having a clean heart, but also to demonstrating God’s love through compassion, clemency, good deeds, fair dealings, and hospitality toward the less fortunate. Later, I discovered James 1:27: “Religion that is pure and undefiled…is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
Lord, help me be a person of integrity and to live a balanced Christian life; to be equally attentive to my inner life and the outward manifestation of your love.
Paul Moceri
Program Manager
Quality Assurance Specialist
Treatment Foster Care
Commonwealth Catholic Charities
Norton, VA
Filed under: Personal Reflections, Spirituality
Brian R Corbin's Reflections on Religion and Life 