The WORD today still reminds me how important it is to be clean
inside.
It
is easy to clean the outside. This is true with cars. There are a lot of
carwash which provide cleaning services. And its relatively cheap. You don't
even need to go to a carwash. You can clean the car at home, and it won't take
a lot of time and effort. However, what requires more time and effort is
cleaning the inside of the car - the interior, the engine, among other
things. That’s why they charge more for detailing and cleaning services,
because it is harder and more time consuming than cleaning just the outside of
the car.
This
is what Jesus says in the gospel. We should not just focus on being clean
outside, like the Pharisees who appear clean outside but very dirty inside.
What is inside is more important than the outside, than what people see.
Being
clean inside would eventually be manifested outward.
As
with cars, what requires more time and effort and what is really important, is
that we are clean from the inside. This is what Jesus wants us to do and to
work on, not the easier exterior cleaning.
Being
clean outside does not mean that the inside is clean as well. It is easy to seem
clean. It's easy to go to the church, go to outreach activities and relief
operations, help the less fortunate. It's easy to show others you go to mass,
confess and serve. However, this does not guarantee the inner state of the
person. Jesus wants us to work harder and clean ourselves from the inside.
What are our motives as we do these things? Do we do it for show, or because we
really love God so much?
Being
clean inside may not be easily seen by others. In fact, it may never be seen by
others. So affirmation and praise from people may not come. But God sees
everything. God sees the inside - our intentions, motives and values. And
having a clean heart, a clean soul, would eventually manifest to the outside.
It will show by the way you talk, react, and deal with others.
What
do I prioritize - being clean outside, where people can see and affirm, or do I
work to clean the inside, the more important although unseen parts? Am I more
concerned on pleasing others and getting affirmation and praise, or on pleasing
God, no matter how silent and delayed his reward is? What areas of my life do I
need to clean?
May
we work to have a clean heart, a clean spirit first. Clean and pure motives and
intentions. May we pray for these, so that eventually, these things will be
manifested in our actions.
Father
God,
Thank
you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for your reminder.
Lord, sorry for the times I focus on the outside rather than the inside. Sorry
for the times I feel contented with looking clean to others. I pray that
you help me have a clean heart. Purify my thoughts, purify my spirit, purify my
heart, so that my actions would follow what is inside me. May my life be
pleasing to you, and may I always give you importance, not other people. Amen.
Blessed Day!
In Christ,
-g-
August 28 2019
Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the
Church
Lectionary: 427
Lectionary: 427
Reading
1 1 THES 2:9-13
You
recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery.
Working night and day in order not to burden any of you,
we proclaimed to you the Gospel of God.
You are witnesses, and so is God,
how devoutly and justly and blamelessly
we behaved toward you believers.
As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children,
exhorting and encouraging you and insisting
that you walk in a manner worthy of the God
who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.
And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly,
that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us,
you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God,
which is now at work in you who believe.
Working night and day in order not to burden any of you,
we proclaimed to you the Gospel of God.
You are witnesses, and so is God,
how devoutly and justly and blamelessly
we behaved toward you believers.
As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children,
exhorting and encouraging you and insisting
that you walk in a manner worthy of the God
who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.
And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly,
that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us,
you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God,
which is now at work in you who believe.
Responsorial
Psalm PS
139:7-8, 9-10, 11-12AB
R.(1) You have searched me and you
know me, Lord.
Where can I go from your spirit?
From your presence where can I flee?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
Even there your hand shall guide me,
and your right hand hold me fast.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall hide me,
and night shall be my light"–
For you darkness itself is not dark,
and night shines as the day.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
Where can I go from your spirit?
From your presence where can I flee?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
Even there your hand shall guide me,
and your right hand hold me fast.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall hide me,
and night shall be my light"–
For you darkness itself is not dark,
and night shines as the day.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
Alleluia 1
JN 2:5
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever keeps the word of Christ,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever keeps the word of Christ,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel MT 23:27-32
Jesus
said,
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside,
but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth.
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous,
but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You build the tombs of the prophets
and adorn the memorials of the righteous,
and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors,
we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets' blood.'
Thus you bear witness against yourselves
that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets;
now fill up what your ancestors measured out!"
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside,
but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth.
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous,
but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You build the tombs of the prophets
and adorn the memorials of the righteous,
and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors,
we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets' blood.'
Thus you bear witness against yourselves
that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets;
now fill up what your ancestors measured out!"
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