21st Week in Ord. Time, Tuesday – 23rd August 2022 — Gospel: Mt 23,23-26
Lack of Reverence
Jesus continues with his woes against the Pharisees and Scribes. These woes were warnings against empty actions, void of interior depth or reverence. He calls them again and again as blind because they remained exacting and harsh in their demands. They were blind to the depth of love and reverence to which they were called. Reverence is a disposition of the heart that enables us to perceive the sacredness in others and in the world. It returns our motives from self-seeking to seeking God’s glory. It is an awareness that we completely depend on God for our salvation. Reverence fills our actions with a sense of true, noble, and exalted purpose. It reorients our way of thinking, feeling, and acting. It is a virtue we cultivate by being aware of the purpose of our actions and our relationship with God, others and all created things.
