Friends,
in today’s Gospel Jesus says, "Woe also to you scholars of the law! You
impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift
one finger to touch them."
Some religious leaders
get their kicks from burdening people, laying the law on them heavily,
making demands that are terrible, exulting in their own moral
superiority. At the core of Jesus’ program is a willingness to bear
other people’s burdens, to help them carry their loads. And this applies
to the moral life as well. If we lay the burden of God’s law on people,
we must be willing, at the same time, to help them bear it.
When
were you cured by Christ and how? What was it like to receive, through
the Church, his healing touch? When did you feel ostracized, despised,
unworthy—and how did Christ, through his Church, restore you to health
and communion? Remember that moment and share it.
Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr
Lectionary: 469
Brothers and sisters:
If you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious:
immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry,
sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy,
outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness,
dissensions, factions, occasions of envy,
drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.
I warn you, as I warned you before,
that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh
with its passions and desires.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.
The Lord said:
"Woe to you Pharisees!
You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb,
but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God.
These you should have done, without overlooking the others.
Woe to you Pharisees!
You love the seat of honor in synagogues
and greetings in marketplaces.
Woe to you!
You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk."
Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply,
"Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too."
And he said, "Woe also to you scholars of the law!
You impose on people burdens hard to carry,
but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them."
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