TUESDAY, TWENTY FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Memorial of Saint Monica
2 Thes 2: 1-3, 14-17 Ps 96: 10-13 Mt 23: 23-26
WORSHIP STARTS WITH JUSTICE AND COMPASSION
We all gather for liturgies to worship God. Probably, we come well dressed and well rehearsed with our readings and hymns. We want to conduct the Eucharist elegantly, to make a good impression on God, make it a good emotional experience for ourselves and after the half hour service, go back peacefully to our chores. No issues. But in Jesus view, this is not enough. He says you cannot distance yourself from your brothers and sisters, and think you are closer to God. Our liturgies are the summit of the God’s worship based on fraternal love and forgiveness. Jesus wants us to worship God in Spirit and truth (Jn 4) and not render mere lip service. Liturgy is more than mere cult.
Liturgy is making real, the mediation of Christ, the sacrifice he offered to the Father for the sins of the whole humanity. He died on Golgotha, as the spectacle of shame; regarded as evil in the eyes of the world. So too, the Eucharist which is the ‘fount and summit of our worship’, has to be based on the life struggles of the parish community, to live and witness the Gospel.
Jesus in the Gospel today is furious about the hypocrisy, that often wants meticulously to be on the right side of the fence with God, without however the necessary inner disposition of practicing social virtues of justice and compassion. Our righteousness has to go beyond the calculation and quantifying levels of the Pharisees (Mt 5:20). He condemns the mathematical attitude of Christian fraternity where there is no generosity or spirit of volunteering to undergo inconvenience for the good of others (Acts 4:32-36), while there is interest in running after the magical and miraculous prayer assemblies. The Christian community is nurtured by those who volunteer to serve. No doubt we must be ready for the Lord to come anytime. We do it by living the daily challenges of love and service to fellow humans.
Response: The Lord comes to judge the earth.
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