The 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 31, 2025

Luke 14, 1, 7-11

On a Sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Our model par excellence of humility is the Lord Jesus Christ, for, as St. Paul says, he “who was in the form of God, did not think it a prize to be grasped to be equal to God, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, born in the likeness of men, and was found in the likeness of a man.  He humbled himself, being born unto death, the death of the cross” (Philippians 2, 6-8).  The verb I have translated from the Greek as “emptied” can also mean “to deprive of content”.  

To begin to understand the Lord’s humility, which is all we can humanly do, we have to think in terms of similes and metaphors.  In today’s Gospel reading, the Lord himself presents what he has done, taking “the lowest place”.  Verse 10 in this reading, which speaks of this, might be translated, literally, “But when you are called, traveling, recline at the last place.” The verb I have translated as “traveling” has this customary meaning, rather than “going”.  The adjective I have translated here as “last” is the Greek eschaton, which does not mean “lowest”, as in the lectionary translation, but “last”, “final”, “at the last”.  The Lord uses this word to describe himself in Revelation 22, 13: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Applying this verse to the Lord, it means that he “emptied himself” in order to “travel” the great distance between heaven and earth, where he reclined first in the womb of the Virgin Mother, then in a dirty manger, then on the “bed” of the Cross, as the Fathers called it, and finally in a stranger’s tomb, taking the furthest place from heaven possible in the human world.

The Lord shows how we might imitate him in his humility through the parable in this reading.  “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor.”  The seating at a banquet or feast was determined by the host.  The guest of honor, or the guest whom the host considered of highest importance, would be given a place of marked significance — at the head of the table, for instance.  The other guests would be seated by the host in the order of the importance in which he viewed them.  (The fact that the Lord and his Mother were with the servants at the Wedding at Cana tells us that they were seated at places furthest from the head).  The order was determined entirely by the host.  Thus, a guest who chose for himself the place of honor showed himself as rude and a fool.  “A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him.”  This is the more likely the greater the number of guests who have been invited.  In addition, the seating of a guest in the place of honor by the host was itself a conspicuous honor.  In seating himself, the foolish guest would be passing this up.  But because a fool seldom realizes that he is a fool, the Lord urges that no one consider himself the guest of honor.  Otherwise, “you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place.”  A better translation would be: “You will be led in shame to the last place.”  

Rather, the Lord says, “traveling, recline at the last place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ ”  We note that the Lord did not say to take one of the last places, but the very last place.  The host, recognizing the true value of the guest in the last place at the table, seats him higher up, perhaps displacing another person to do this.  The Almighty Father who sees his Son in the last place, says to him, My Son, come up higher, and so from his tomb he raises him to glory.  “Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table.”  Those at the table will praise the one who is raised up, seeing the favor bestowed upon him by their host.  The guest thus receives greater honor than if he had been seated by the host there right at the start.

“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”  We should note here that the one who “exalts himself” will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself “will be exalted” by another, by the host.  When we exalt ourselves we show our own foolish pride, which all can see but ourselves.  When someone of actual importance exalts us, it is a different matter.  When the Lord exalts us after we have taken the last place with him on earth, we shall be glorified in the eyes of the angels.

Saturday in the 21st Week of Ordinary Time, August 30, 2025

Matthew 25, 14–30

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one— to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.  After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ ”

According to St. Matthew, the Lord Jesus told two parables immediately before his graphic account of the Second Coming and the great judgment in which the eternal destiny of each human person who ever lived will be announced (Matthew 25, 31-46).  The first of these is that of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.  The second is that of the Ten Talents.  We learn essential features of the end times from each of these.  Both speak of the unexpected coming of the Master, and both speak of how his subjects may gain reward and avoid punishment.  The first parable particularly emphasizes the desire of the wise virgins to take part in the wedding feast.  The second, the potential for each human person to receive a heavenly reward.

In this parable, the Master is going away on a journey and he sets up his servants to carry on his business for him. “To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one— to each according to his ability.”  He knows his servants’s abilities, and he distributes his talents among them according to his expectations in light of this knowledge.  He does not distribute the talents in an equal way because he understands that the three servants do not have the same abilities.  It is noteworthy that he does not give all the talents to the one who is best qualified to handle these talents — the one to whom he gives five.  He would have made more money that way, in the end, but it seems that making money is only a secondary factor here.  What the Master really intends is to give all three of the servants who have handled his money a chance to shine, and to be rewarded for their work.  Thus, the Lord entrusts each person with a calling — a vocation — and the grace necessary to know, and to carry out, his calling.  His purpose for doing so is not to enrich himself, for he is infinitely rich in glory and happiness, but so that he might have cause to grant a share in his riches and joy with us.

What are these vocations, in general?  The Church Father Origen taught that the five talents signified a complete knowledge of God’s law, as the number five was the number of the books of the Pentateuch.  The person who received these was meant to govern in some way.  Learned and able, this one might be a member of the clergy, or a secular authority, or a teacher.  The number two signified the the material and the spiritual aspects of the world, and for Origen this meant that the one who received two talents was meant to build, for instance.  This could be a missionary, or a construction worker.  This person would have practical knowledge and cleverness.  The one talent signified the unity of one, and this meant the spirit.  Origen considered that the person who received the one talent actually received more than the one who received the five because the spiritual person is greater than one who merely governs things and people.  These talents — these vocations — are given to be developed.

When the Master returns, he calls his servants to him in order to learn how they succeeded.  Now, the Lord Jesus knows all things and does not need us to tell him anything.  But he wants us to admit the truth, to take responsibility, for what we have done.  In the present case, the man with the five talents has governed wisely.  He has rejected attempts to enrich himself at the expense of others and the temptation of abusing his authority.  This might be Pope St. Gregory the Great, or St. Catherine of Sweden.  The servant with the two talents has also worked hard, building.  This might be a Catholic wife and mother, Louis Pasteur, or Father Damien of Molokai.  The servant called to the spiritual life might be St. Claire or St. Francis.  But in this case, the servant failed.  He rejected his spiritual calling or failed to make progress in it once he had begun.  As his Master tells him, all he had to do was the most basic thing, accept the vocation and make even the smallest progress, but he did not even do that.  If he had truly applied himself, he could have made many more times the amount the one with the five talents did, and this would have rebounded to the glory of the Master.

Because the servant with the one failed to carry out his vocation, he is cast out into the fearsome darkness.  Had the one with the five not produced, this would have been his lot as well.  How essential is it to know and to carry out our vocations!  And yet this is a terrible problem in our society today.  So many people do not know what to do with themselves.  This applies to people of all ages.  Young people graduate from high school with no ideas or plans and then accrue enormous debt in college and still have no real ideas or plans.  People in the midst of their careers suddenly wonder what it is all for.  Folks who retire early from their government or corporate jobs now face nearly half their lifetimes with no real idea for what to do next.  But this is not hard to figure out.  Understanding our vocations comes down to thinking about how we can serve God and our neighbors, given the talents, abilities, and interests that we have.  In the end, it all comes down to service, to answering the question, How can I help?

May we serve our God with all our hearts so that one day we may hear him say to us, “Come, share your master’s joy.”

The Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, August 29, 2025

Mark 6, 17-29

Herod was the one who had John the Baptist arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him. She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee. Herodias’ own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.” He even swore many things to her, “I will grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of my kingdom.” She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.” The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request, “I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

The deep influence of St. John the Baptist required the Gospel writers to record more about him than any other figure apart from Jesus.  They provide us with greater information about John the Baptist than even about the Lord’s own Mother and foster-father.  And while St. Luke gives us many words from the mouth of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, we never hear St. Joseph, the Lord’s foster-father, speak at all.  The Baptist, even in death, seemed to overshadow the Lord Jesus, for some people believed the Jesus was John the Baptist or perhaps had received a “portion” of his spirit, much as the prophet Elisha received from the prophet Elijah before the fiery chariot carried him up to heaven (cf. 2 Kings 2, 9).  Indeed, John’s harsh manner of life and his fierce, relentless preaching marked him out as the prophet the Jews had anxiously awaited since the death of their last prophet, Malachi, over four hundred years before.

 In much a similar manner to Elijah, John the Baptist got into trouble with a ruler over his wife (although here Herod Antipas is called a “king” his title was only that of “tetrarch”).  Herod’s wife Herodias was both the divorced wife of his brother Philip and also his niece, and thus the marriage went contrary to the law of Moses on two counts, though in the Gospels John the Baptist is shown as harping on the first.  John’s hold on the Judean people and Herod’s shaky position as tetrarch resulted in Herod and Herodias feeling seriously threatened by him, and so John was arrested.  We are not given any details of the arrest.  It would have been interesting to compare the details of his arrest with those of Jesus’s, three years later.  At the same time, Herod hesitated in killing John because of his popularity.  St. Mark gives us an insight into Herod’s state of mind regarding John at this time: “When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.”  From this, it seems that Herod either had John brought to him on occasion or that he went into the prison in his for tree in order to listen to him.  Either way, John’s forceful personality and the authority of his words exercised some hold even on an essentially non practicing Jew like Herod.  Later, this same “perplexity” caused Herod to want to see Jesus, who only stood silently before him when Pontius Pilate sent Jesus to him (cf. Luke 23, 8-9).

Herod would likely have kept John alive in his prison indefinitely had it not been for Herod’s lust.  Seeing the daughter of his niece/wife Herodias dance at his own birthday party, he promised the girl anything she wanted, even up to a part of territory which he ruled.  The girl, who would not have been married at the time and so would be in her early teens, went to her mother, who had more reason to feel threatened by John the Baptist than her husband.  Herod, after all, could have appeased John and his large following by divorcing his problematic wife.  Seizing her opportunity, she told her to ask for the head of the prophet.  Politically, this made sense for the girl as well as for the mother since John’s death could mean that his following would disappear and Herodias’s (and her daughter’s) position at court would be assured, st least in the short run.  

However, John had completed his sacred mission of preparing the way for the Son of God, and many of his disciples, during his life and after his death, joined with Jesus — he himself encouraging them to do so.  During his time in prison John’s followers kept him informed of the miraculous deeds and words of the Lord Jesus, of his growing following, so that he could know that he had, as St. Paul would later say, “I am even now ready to be sacrificed: and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought a good fight: I have finished my course: I have kept the faith. As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice which the Lord the just judge will render to me” (2 Timothy, 4, 6-8).

Thursday in the 21st Week of Ordinary Time, August 28, 2025

Matthew 24, 42-51

Jesus said to his disciples: “Stay awake!  For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.  Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so. Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards, the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

“Stay awake!  For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.”  The Lord’s teaching on the end of the world begins in St. Matthew’s Gospel at the beginning of Chapter 24.  The day before the Lord gave this teaching he had entered Jerusalem triumphantly, with the Jews thinking he was the long-awaited Messiah.  Matthew then describes him as coming out of the Temple and the Apostles marveling at its buildings and courtyards, and telling them that of these things “there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed” (Matthew 24, 2).  The Apostles anxiously asked for the time when this would happen, and the Lord proceeded to tell them all about his return in glory to judge the living and the dead while also mentioning the destruction of Jerusalem which would come first.  We can also understand these verses as pertaining to the end of our lives on earth.

In the verses used for today’s Gospel Reading, the Lord teaches the necessity for the faithful to possess and exercise both perseverance and alertness.  He means, From now on, keep vigilant, for the judgment is coming.  That is to say, we should not start taking the second coming seriously when we are older, but every day of our lives we should be prepared for it.  We need not be obsessed with it so that we do nothing but wait, but we should be aware of our need to build up our faith and to fill up our treasure of good deeds in heaven.  “Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into.”  The Lord emphasizes urgency with his image: if the master of the house will stay alert for the hour the thief will come, how much more should we, whose very souls are at stake, keep awake and aware.  In this way we can see temptation and sin as a distraction by our soul’s enemy so that we are not ready when the Lord comes, but performing good works as engaging in this vigilance.

“So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”   We might think back to the first Passover, when the Jews ate a late dinner with their coats on and were ready at a moment’s notice to rise and to leave Egypt.  We, likewise, must be ready to leave the Egypt of this life for the Promised Land of heaven.

“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time?”  The master has put a servant in charge and gone away for an unknown period.  Jesus asks the question: Who is this?  It is each of us, for the Lord puts us “in charge” of helping the people around us to get to heaven, nourishing then with our words and deeds.  “Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so. Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.”  How many actions we have performed which we would not want to be our last actions on earth!  What do we want to be doing when the Lord comes, whether at the end of our lives on earth or at the great judgment if we are alive at that time?  The servant who is doing his master’s work when he comes will be put in charge of all his property: this servant will be raised from his earthly work to a lofty place in heaven, there to intercede for the conversion of the world.

“My master is long delayed.”  We may be tempted during our lives to end our alertness, to cease our vigilance.  We grow weary and the wait seems long.  We cease to nourish with our words and good example the people whom God has given us, and this amounts to “beating” them and “drinking” with “drunkards” — those who have given in to self-indulgence to the extent that they are senseless and uninterested as to the master’s return.  “The servant’s master will come . . . and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites.”  The master will punish that neglectful servant for not being ready himself for his return as well as for not helping the others get ready for it.  They will be punished to some degree too, for they were not helpless, bot not as severely as the one who was supposed to help them (cf. Luke 12, 47-48).  This wretched servant will be assigned a place with “the hypocrites”, the godless, the word the Lord used for the scribes and Pharisees (which may indicate that the Lord may have originally meant that the Pharisees were this servant who was supposed “to distribute to [the Jews] their food at the proper time”).  In this place there will be “wailing and grinding of teeth.”  St. Thomas Aquinas says that the wailing will be due to the exterior suffering afflicted on the damned and that the grinding of teeth will be due to interior hatred and guilt for having known the Lord’s will and rejected it.

Holy pictures and crucifixes in our homes, and medals and scapulars on our person help us to stay vigilant as well as the regular habit of prayer.  We should take advantage of whatever we can to keep our minds on heaven, and the Lord who reigns there.

Wednesday in the 21st Week of Ordinary Time, August 27, 2025

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 are like whitewashed tombs.”  Today’s Gospel Reading continues the Lord’s reproach of the scribes and the Pharisees.  The Jews of the time provided two kinds of resting places for their dead.  Ordinary folks buried their dead in graves dug out of the ground.  The wealthier among them had tombs carved out of the outcrops of rock common in the Holy Land.  These tombs amounted to small compounds with a little courtyard and then the tomb itself which consisted of a chamber large enough to accommodate a human body lying on its back and also a few people who would wrap it and anoint it as well as recite prayers.  Niches were carved within the side of the tomb where the bones of the body would be placed after the flesh had decomposed so that entire families could be buried together.  The exterior of the tombs were kept clean and were even whitened so that they did not become overgrown with plants.  These would “appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.”  The Greek word translated here as “filth” should be understood as the Jewish concept of “uncleanness”.  This meant that touching the tomb made a person unclean, “beautiful” appearances notwithstanding.  The tomb is a thing of death, and belongs to the kingdom of darkness and death.  This, the Lord Jesus is telling the crowds, is the scribe and Pharisee, whatever his learning, his ability to speak, his expensive clothing, his elaborate prayers.

“You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous.”  The scribes and Pharisees wish to take the bones of the prophets from the places where they have lain buried for centuries and build new tombs for them as of to cover up how they were killed and hurriedly buried by their frightened followers.  “If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.”  The scribes and Pharisees attempt to separate themselves from the guilt of their ancestors without condemning their ancestors and separating themselves from them.  “We would not have joined them”, but we not have stopped them, either.  And the scribes and Pharisees do not say, “We will repent of the way of our ancestors by obeying the words of the prophets.”  The Lord concludes, “You are the children of those who murdered the prophets; now fill up what your ancestors measured out!”  The scribes and the Pharisees are their “children” in the sense that they carry out the work of their parents in opposing the truth and persecuting those who proclaim it.  Those who killed the prophets inspired by God followed prophets of their own choosing and making who validated their wicked way of life, as did the scribes and Pharisees of the day, who foisted upon Israel their own false interpretation of the Law and the Prophets, and then lived godless lives contrary to the Law.  They “filled up” what their ancestors “measured” through the harassment of John the Baptist and their persecution and killing the Son of God, even in the face of miracles that could be performed only with divine power.

Today we honor the saints — those of the time before Christ and of the time since he came — in many ways.  We name churches after them.  We make paintings of them.  We go to Mass on their feast days.  We (sometimes) name our children after them.  We take their names when we receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.  We pray to them in time of need.  We honor them best by imitating the virtues in which they imitated the Lord Jesus, recalling the words of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, 1: “Imitate me as I also imitate Christ.”  In this way, and infused with the Holy Spirit, we become “living temples” dedicated to the Lord Jesus, truly beautiful in every way, filled not with the dead bones of tombs but with a share in his divine life.

Tuesday in the 21st Week of Ordinary Time, August 26, 2025

Matthew 23, 23-26

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.”

For three years the Lord Jesus has preached that the Kingdom of Heaven  had drawn near and that people needed to repent of their sins.  He had preached up and down through Galilee and Judea to the rich and the poor.  Now he has entered Jerusalem and is days away from dying on the Cross.  He turns to the Pharisees and the scribes, the very people who should have recognized him as the Savior, and rebukes them for their refusal to give up their devotion to wealth and honors.  Their place was to lead the people in penance, but all they would see in Jesus was a renegade who would wreck their good thing.  But Jesus is no rebel against the Law; in fact, he upholds it rigorously.  He says here, speaking of the tithes on mint and dill that are commanded in the Law of Moses: “But these you should have done,” that is, pay the tithes.  And he does further, that they should not have neglected judgment, mercy and fidelity.  He accuses them of neglecting judgment: the Pharisees but especially the scribes who studied the Law, acted as judges and as such their responsibility was to secure the rights of those who had been harmed in some way.  But frequently they judged only when a sufficient bribe motivated them to do so.  They neglected mercy: they failed in giving alms and in aiding their neighbors in distress when it would have cost them little.  They neglected fidelity, that is, the trust that makes contracts possible.  Instead, they looked for ways to advance their interests no matter how it hurt others.

“Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!” In warmer regions, in ancient times, wine was often full of gnats, so that one who wishes to drink had to strain it first to remove them.  The “gnats” here can be understood as venial sins and the camels (the largest land animal in that region) as mortal sins or serious vices.  The Pharisees and scribes are said to be “blind” because they ignore the grievousnessvofvtjeircwicked actions and how they affect other people.  They are blind “guides” in that they teach others that this behavior is acceptable. “You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.”  The cup and dish are human beings.  Their “outside” is the body and the “inside” is the soul.  Cleansing the outside of the cup and dish means dedicating oneself to one’s appearance, whether physical or moral: vanity or hypocrisy.  Jesus is accusing these Jewish leaders of only wanting to seem just and law-abiding.  In ancient times, excessive attention to dress and adornment actually signaled this, in the way that wealth was thought to signal God’s favor.  But all the while, their soul was corrupting, and anything poured into the filthy cup would become corrupted as well, no matter how fine it might have once been.  Thus, they hear the Lord’s preaching and they look for inconsistencies and even blasphemies in it.

“Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.”  That is, unless the soul is free from sin and in a state of grace, it is a waste of time to clean and polish the outside appearance.

We are often deceived by appearances, or, we allow ourselves to be deceived by them because they seem to promise pleasure or freedom from the constraints of virtue.  We should keep in mind that the Son of God came as an infant wrapped in rags and laid in a trough, and departed this world bloodied and hanging on a Cross.

Monday in the 21st Week of Ordinary Time, August 25, 2025

Matthew 23, 13-22

Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves. “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If one swears by the temple, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.’ Blind fools, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If one swears by the altar, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gift on the altar, one is obligated.’ You blind ones, which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it; one who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it; one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who is seated on it.”

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.”  If the Lord’s rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees is a continuation of his teaching about them in Matthew 23, 2-12, then he is still speaking to “the multitudes and his disciples” as per 23, 1, and so he is not addressing them directly, though his words would surely get back to them.  The Lord was at that time speaking on the Temple grounds, likely near the treasury.  

The Lord rebukes the scribes and Pharisees for two main reasons.  First, he publicly points out their egregious errors and sins so that they must repent or lose face with the people, and also to convert them so that they would not be lost.  Second, he distinguishes the sins of the leaders from the sins of the followers, which are lesser, and by doing this he draws the people to act virtuously and not in the way of their leaders.  His rebuke is sharp.  He calls the scribes and Pharisees “hypocrite”, which is from a Greek word used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew word for “godless”.  The scribes and the Pharisees act as though there is no God to watch them or to hold them accountable.  There mind is that of the fool who is quoted in Psalm 14, 1: “There is no god.”  Further in the Psalm, the author describes such as these: “Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they act deceitfully: the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.”  This is the way of those who reject God.

“You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.”  despite their godlessness, they have usurped the teaching authority and “lock” the Kingdom of heaven from others by their piling up of burdensome laws and rules and by their own contemptible example.  “You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves.”  In general, the Jews did not proselytize, though they might do so if a prominent Gentile showed interest in the worship of the true God.  But rather than convert him to true Judaism, they converted him to Pharisaism.  “If one swears by the temple, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.”  It is this loose practice of swearing and the mess of arbitrary rules around it that our Lord forbids in his Sermon on the Mount.  He uses this occasion to point out that it is the Temple that is sacred, the altar that is sacred, not the gold or the sacrifice.

You and I are consecrated to God through our baptism even more so than the old Temple was consecrated to him through a multitude of animal sacrifices, so let us appear before the world covered with the gold of good deeds.

The 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 24, 2025

Luke 13, 22-30

Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the Kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

“Lord, will only a few people be saved?”  Probably many in the crowd wanted to ask the Lord this vital question but lacked the courage to do so.  And a question of this type does require courage because the answer tells us something about our own chances of being saved.  

We should think about what the person is really asking.  Already at the time of the Lord’s Birth on earth the Jews had developed the belief in a final judgment, with those judged as righteous rewarded with heaven and the wicked punished in hell.  We see this in some of the apocryphal books, such as the Books of Enoch.  This belief came about at the same time as that in the resurrection of the dead, which the Pharisees taught and the Sadducees rejected as not being found in the Law.  Much remained unknown about this judgment, and the question remained open about whether many or only a few people would be saved — that is, saved from hell.  The person in the crowd who called out this question to Jesus believed that Jesus could answer it, whereas the Pharisees could not.  To this person the Lord had demonstrated great wisdom and power so that he would know, if it could be known.  

The Lord’s reply, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough”, may not seem satisfying, but let us look at what he is saying.  By wording his answer in this way, the Lord avoids making it sound as though God had decided that only a few people could be saved and that he would send the majority of people into hell.  Instead, the Lord puts the answer in terms of whether a person was willing to “strive to enter” heaven.  That is, those who strive to do so would enter, but those who did not would be lost.  The “entrance” to heaven may be narrow, but there is an entrance which people may enter.  But they must strive (the Greek verb also means “to contend” to enter through it.  How do we “strive” to enter?  The Lord answers this in Matthew 19, 16-30 when the rich young man asked him what he needed to do to be saved.  The Lord told him to keep the commandments and to follow him, even to the point of giving up his property.  We can see in the Lord’s response to the rich young man a clue as to the meaning of the “narrow” way and how many will not be able to find it or enter it.  Concern for the things of this world, such as position in society or wealth make us too weak to enter the narrow gate.  Those inflated with pride also cannot pass through as the gate is too narrow for them.  Only those who are themselves “narrow” through fasting, alms-giving, and time spent in prayer will be able to pass through, widening the way just enough for themselves with the crosses they carry.

The Lord then speaks of those who will cry out at the judgment, “We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.”  They saw the Lord, heard him preach, and did not repent and do penance.  Many living today will cry out in this way, for they saw the Lord in his faithful and in his saints, and heard his words through them and through the Scriptures, and yet went away unmoved or unwilling to move.  They will hear these fearful words: “I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!”  The Lord describes their suffering in the world to come: “And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”  They will wail in their despair and grind their teeth in their agony.  “And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the Kingdom of God.”  The Lord speaks here of the Gentiles who will be saved: those who did not see him and yet believed (cf. John 20, 29).  

“Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”  Not all who are “last” will be “first”, but to be “last” is itself not a sign of condemnation.  The Lord refers here to the Jews and the Gentiles.  He also means the rich and the poor, the free and the enslaved, and the first and last in society.  The condition of a person does not matter; only whether that person strives with all his heart, strength, spirit, and soul to enter the narrow gate to Paradise.