AUGUST 23, 2022, TUESDAY
Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time (Green)
OPTIONAL MEMORIAL OF SAINT ROSE OF LIMA, VIRGIN (White)
CYCLE C - YEAR II
Lectionary: 426
Reading 1
2 THES 2:1-3A, 14-17
We ask you, brothers and sisters,
with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
and our assembling with him,
not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly,
or to be alarmed either by a “spirit,” or by an oral statement,
or by a letter allegedly from us
to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.
Let no one deceive you in any way.
To this end he has also called you through our Gospel
to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firm
and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught,
either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,
who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement
and good hope through his grace,
encourage your hearts and strengthen them
in every good deed and word.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 96:10, 11-12, 13
R. (13b) The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Say among the nations: The LORD is king.
He has made the world firm, not to be moved;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Before the LORD, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Alleluia
HEBREWS 4:12
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of God is living and effective,
able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
MT 23:23-26
Jesus said:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean.”
GOSPEL REFLECTION:
Jesus follows on from yesterday’s reading by reprimanding the scribes and Pharisees for their way of life. They are self-satisfied, and think that they are above the law. They look good from the outside but have neglected the deeper things. They tithe only worldly goods and not the things of the heart like justice, mercy and compassion.
The scribes and Pharisees stand for religious leaders who are obsessed with rules and regulations but miss out on justice, mercy and faith, and on the great commandment of love. They use religion to control people, and worse still, to try to control God.
PRAYER:
Lord, please clean the inside of my cup, so that my heart may be filled with your love and your grace. In my daily examen make me aware of the subtle ways in which I can spoil what you are trying to do through me. At the end of my life may I be able to say, not that ‘I did it my way’ but that I did it your way!
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