Gospel: August 25, 2025
August 25, 2025 (Monday)
21st Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 1 / (White)
St. Joseph Calasanz, priest
St. Louis
Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a & 9b
The Lord takes delight in his people.
1st Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 8b-10
Gospel: Matthew 23:13-22
But woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door to the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You, yourselves, do not enter it, nor do you allow others to do so. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows’ property; and as a show, you pray long prayers! Therefore, you shall receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel by sea and land to make a single convert; yet, once he is converted, you make him twice as fit for hell as yourselves! Woe to you, blind guides! You say: To swear by the temple is not binding; but, to swear by the gold of the temple is binding. Foolish men! Blind men! Which is of more worth: the gold in the temple, or the temple which makes the gold a sacred treasure? You say: To swear by the altar is not binding, but to swear by the offering on the altar is binding. How blind you are! Which is of more value: the offering on the altar, or the altar which makes the offering sacred? Whoever swears by the altar, is swearing by the altar and by everything on it. Whoever swears by the temple, is swearing by the temple, and by God, who dwells in the temple. Whoever swears by heaven, is swearing by the throne of God, and by him, who is seated on it.
Reflection:
“God’s mercy is plentiful.”
Today’s reading contains a long list of woes, as Jesus describes the sorrowful fate of the scribes and the Pharisees on account of their hypocrisy. They make a great show of being men of religion, but their lives are poor in charity and integrity. Accusations of hypocrisy are leveled against the Church and her members in our own day. The Church has many flaws and faults, and scandals of abuse and corruption have undermined people’s faith. But are we all hypocrites? Saint John Henry Newman broaches this subject in one of his sermons, saying that there is a difference between hypocrisy and weakness, in that hypocrisy lacks the recognition of faults or the desire to try to do better. This is why Jesus calls them “blind guides,” as they lack the awareness of their sins and teach others to follow their example. Thus, the desire to improve in response to God’s call prevents our sins being clouded in hypocrisy or ending in complacency, but neither should our recognition of our sinfulness lead to despair when improvement comes slowly, since God’s mercy is plentiful (Ps 130:7).
