Homily Twenty-first Wednesday of Ordinary Time (Mt. 23:27-32) “How Holy are We on the Inside?”

Homily Twenty-first Thursday of Ordinary Time  (Mt. 23:27-32) “How Holy are We on the Inside?”

The Jewish people believed that touching a dead body would render them unclean.  If you were unclean that meant that you could not participate in worship.  Someone usually would become clean again with passage of time.  Lots of times uncleanliness would stop at the sundown.  Other times it might take a full week to be rendered clean.

If a dead body was unclean anything it touched would become unclean.  Therefore, a tomb would be unclean.  During the times when people would be traveling to Jerusalem for religious festivals, tombs would be whitewashed so they might be avoided.  If someone touched a tomb by mistake, they would not be able to worship once they got to Jerusalem.

As people marched to Jerusalem to worship the whitewashed tombs would gleam in the sunlight.  This made them appear beautiful, but there were still dead bodies inside and they needed to be avoided.

Jesus compares the Pharisees and Scribes to the tombs.  They appeared holy and pious on the outside, but in their minds, they often would be judging others.  Such people were not in touch with their faults and failings.    

They looked pure on the outside, but on the inside, they were hateful and vindictive.  Jesus had little use for such people.  He did not like people who could not see their own immorality.

Reflection Questions:

1. If we think we are good religious people that can be dangerous?  Why is that the case?
2. Jesus seemed to be more at home with people who were aware of their faults and failings.  Would He comfortable around me?

 

Dear Parishioners,

          Our stained-glass windows are supposed to be reinstalled the week of September 7^th.  We will still have Mass in church.  The workers will come in immediately after services and work the rest of the day.  This will be a challenging week, but we hope to muddle through.  The good news is that we are getting very close to the end of the installation. 

          The next week we hope to install the last window in the sanctuary that had the damage to the limestone frame.  Once this is finished, we should be finished with window repairs.  I hate to predict how long the repairs will last, but we should not have to touch the church windows for a long time except for spot repairs.

          We are going to have a blessing of the windows on the weekend of October 11^th. Please mark your calendars. We thank all those who have helped with this monumental project.

          May Our Lady and All the Angels and Saints protect us.

Fr. Mark