Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Because there is no Fides Prayer Meet today due to the public holiday, this reflection will be to help you “Break the Word” for this Sunday’s readings.
Today’s Reading
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/103011.cfm
Reflections:
The common theme for the readings is: We must offer sacrifices that are pure and pleasing to God.
First Reading
In the First Reading, the Prophet Malachi warns the priests, the Levites, to end their corrupt practices. Though not mentioned within this passage itself, the priests here had been sacrificing imperfect animals to God. Instead of offering strong, healthy, valuable sacrifices, they had been offering lame, sickly, defective animals and keeping the healthy animals for themselves. The Lord in response, threatened to show His wrath. We often choose to ignore or explain away this righteous anger of God, but if we did, we would actually have an inaccurate understanding of who God is. God is a God of infinite love, but He is also a God of Justice – in the end we will all be held accountable for our actions! Then how do we reconcile these two seemingly contradicting characters of God? The First Reading itself provides the answer, God gave the corrupt priests a chance to change, saying “If you do not listen, if you do not lay it to heart…” Being a God of love, He knows that we have our weaknesses and we will fall, so He gives us chances to turn back to Him. Not forgetting also, He sent His only Son down to die for us – so that we could once again be reunited with Him!
Then, we must ask ourselves here, have we been offering impure sacrifices to God? For example by attending mass angry while still holding a grudge against someone else, or by being stingy with our donations, while spending much more on ourselves?
Second Reading
Here we have a prime example of how a role model should behave. Paul puts the needs of his community before his. We can see that Paul and the other preachers did not expect special treatment. They worked during the day just like anyone else (not supporting the community to support them), and probably preached the Gospel at night, sacrificing their rest time.
Though at times Paul might seem boastful or acting as though to seek approval, he is far from it. He speaks in a very direct, in your face approach, because of his strong conviction in the vocation Christ personally gave to him. He has no time for being politically correct or false humility, but very bluntly and honestly proclaims the word of God, and striving to be a living example for the early Christians.
This is an excellent reminder for us that as servants of God, we should expect no special treatment/thanks when we do God’s work. For if we did, then how can we consider what we have done a pure sacrifice? Would it not have been to gain prestige, favour or make someone else indebted to us? For our good works to be a pure and pleasing sacrifice to God, they must cost us – be it time, money, emotionally, etc. We must do God’s work without seeking any kind of earthly reward or impure intention. However we should not let impure intentions stop us from doing good altogether, but instead continue to do good works, but praying constantly for our intentions to be purified.
Gospel
In the Gospel, the Pharisees were said to “widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels” – the essence of these actions was for the Pharisees to demonstrate publicly, that they bore special reverence for the Law. In other words, they were attention seeking and wanted people to admire them. If you would like more details, you can check out this link: http://bible.cc/matthew/23-5.htm
One of the consequences of an impure sacrifice is hypocrisy. When we do good things without the right intentions, it is very easy to become hypocritical – because our good works are only an act to get approval from others. This is a trap that I can safely say all of us fall into from time to time. This is definitely an area I need to work at myself. So don’t worry, you are surely not alone. Jesus offers us a solution to hypocrisy: humility. When we are consciously aware of the fact that we are all equals in God’s eyes, we come to the realization that our good works do not make us any more superior to others – we are all still God’s children, equally and infinitely loved by our Creator.
How do we practice humility? A leader of the Amplify ministry shared that to prevent his head from getting too big, he would secretly perform menial labour – e.g. washing the toilets, picking up litter, cleaning the tables – while others were sleeping or occupied with other activities. By serving others in this humble way, he balanced out his very public role of being a speaker, consciously reminding himself that he was no more important than everyone else. I think this is an amazing lesson we can all learn!
Reflection Questions:
1. Have I been offering pure sacrifices? If not, how can I purify them?
2. Do I expect earthly rewards for my good works? If so, have I been praying for my intentions to be purified?
3. What are ways in which I can practice humility?
Prayer Intentions:
For Charmaine’s family, that they may be comforted. (Read the link below from the reflection “Deadlines and Masks” if you have not done so)
For those feeling unloved, that they may experience God’s love and joy
For the victims of the Thai floods and the Turkish earthquakes, that God bring them relief and comfort
For the sick and suffering, especially those dear to us, that God may heal their bodies and hearts
For the Project iLove3 leaders and team, that we may remember to rely on His strength through the many challenges that lie ahead
For the Fides Community, that God continue to help us grow together as one loving family
For those struggling with sin
And for all those out there who are in need of our prayers…we humbly pray.
God bless!
