Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
(II Thessalonians 3:6-10.16-18; Matthew 23:27-32)
Pasted on a wall of the convents of the Missionaries of
Charity, a statement by the congregation’s found, St. Teresa of Calcutta strikes
the observer. If prayer is simply
talking to God, Mother Teresa’s prayer is profound. The sign says, “I will give you saints and
martyrs.” It almost echoes the last words of Jesus in today’s gospel.
Jesus has just excoriated the lay leaders of Judaism for their
duplicity. He calls the scribes and
Pharisees “hypocrites” and says that they are no better than their ancestors
who murdered the prophets. Then he
invites them to contrive the same evil against him. “…fill up,” he says, “what your ancestors
measured out.”
The scribes and Pharisees had no monopoly on duplicity. Vile can stain any human heart. To counter duplicity, we must be honest with
ourselves as well as with others. Like Jesus
we have to call a dove, a “dove,” and a snake, a “snake.” Even more, we should ask
God to purify our duplicitous hearts.
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