The Queenship of
the Blessed Virgin Mary
(II Thessalonians 1:1-5.11-12; Matthew 23:13-21)
Sometimes people cross their fingers when telling a lie. The gesture is supposed to ward off the guilt
of the lie. The crossed fingers supposedly
represent the cross of Jesus which saved humanity from their sins. But crossed fingers will no more protect
people from the guilt of lying than the phrases used by the Pharisees in today’s
gospel will excuse them from responsibility of what they say.
Jesus does not stomach hypocrisy. He expects people’s actions to conform to their
words. He does not accept the Pharisees’
reasoning that the lesser authorities they invoke as witnesses somehow frees
them from the oaths they take. He wants all
people to do what they say, to say what they think, and to think in righteous
ways. He would count anything less than
this standard as malicious.
Jesus continually challenges us to be better than the
standards set by ourselves and by society.
We should strive to meet his demands but also realize that he died on
the cross to make up for our failures. We
should use the sign of the cross then not as an excuse to lie but as our way to
implore Jesus’ mercy.
