Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 23, 13-22
‘But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. ‘Woe to you, blind guides, who say, “Whoever swears by the sanctuary is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by the oath.” You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that has made the gold sacred? And you say, “Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on the altar is bound by the oath.” How blind you are! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it; and whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears by it and by the one who dwells in it; and whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by the one who is seated upon it.
Open the doors
1) The doors. This is a very complex issue which I have started to analyze and have even made some self-criticism. I mean, of course, the issue of priests and people committed to the Church that close doors instead of opening them. We apologize for closing the doors to the Church, which is your family, your home. We apologize for the times you went to confession and instead of receiving comfort you received reprimand after reprimand. Forgive us because we even rebuked you for not knowing the prayer of the act of contrition. I apologize for closing the doors when a person from Church approached you the first time you went to the chapel and instead of welcoming you, they asked more questions of you than the secret service would have asked. Forgive us for the times that we looked at you angrily during Mass when your young child cried, and we made you feel that your child bothered us. Forgive us, dear teenager, for when you declined abortion and had the courage to keep your baby, we expelled you from the parish school because we thought you were not a good example. Instead of thanking you for your courage, and helping you, we turned our backs on you. From today on, let’s keep the doors open. Let’s strive for everyone to be saved and let’s work so that Jesus can reach everyone.
2) Proselytism and fanaticism. These are the other issues that we must work on within the Church, which may seem that instead of being a home and school of communion, is a sort of soccer championship in which each group is competing against the others – the only thing missing is that each group or parochial or diocesan movement goes to the Church with their identifying soccer shirt! We are all on the same team, Heaven’s! But instead of thinking of what is best for the Church, we want our movement or group to be the best. The Church will not improve with a greater number of members, but rather, through the service it offers based on prayer and humility. In Church we don’t evangelize through proselytism, but rather by attraction.
3) When the means becomes the end. This is a third issue that we must work on. When the parish prioritizes earning money instead of winning over souls. This is what happens when you mix things up, when you go to Mass because you like the priest’s homily instead of going for Jesus and the Eucharist. We priests are merely a means to an end. This can also happen to you when you focus on making money for your home and family, but you do not enjoy either your home or your family.
Come on, with Christ everything is possible, let us open doors and let us be a great family that welcomes and comforts everyone.Let us not banish the ‘dirtiest’ people. Let us embrace them, clean them, and walk together with them.
God bless you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Don’t forget that Heaven is our goal!
