Woe to Us

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!" Matthw 23:27-32

Reflection:

For a long time when I was asked what Religion I was, I was ashamed to say. The reactions were anything but pleasant. They ranged from, oh, catholic! To, so your in that religion full of hypocritical priest spouting of God's word and then doing a great evil by harming children and initiating them in the ways of evil. There were many that voiced their dislike of the Catholics. At one point I would avoid even answering, just so I would not have to get the brunt of their dislike.

But then, when God took charge of my life, I began to see His Word in a new light. And I also began to see where I, as a Catholic didn't measure up either. One thing, it was a brief period that I went through. One I am deeply sorry for, for not speaking my mind too. But that was not God's purpose in my life.

So in today's reading, those moments of embarassment at others dislike for my faith, I see through their eyes, what they saw of a Church filled with filth. And this is not just Catholics, it's other religions also. Because each one claims they are the right religion, yet they all fight among themselves, pointing the finger at each other. Or doing something that is unholy.

But we tolerate it, don't we? We try to voice our concerns, and say hey, no one is perfect, we are all sinners.It's just very sad when our Church leaders are the sinners and speak out against sin, yet they are the role models of Christ, while behind closed doors they do a great evil.

By and far these are the opinions of many religions, but we are to keep it hush, lest it come to light.