(Listen to this homily here).
Jesus’ strongest critiques were directed at the
self-righteous. One of my favorite
lines from the Gospels: “Those who are
well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners.”
This principle of Jesus is also
seen in the Old Testament. This
morning we heard a stern warning from God: “…then will I remove from your midst the
proud braggarts…”
We must always be careful about becoming
self-righteous.
We must never judge, especially our Catholic and
Christian brothers and sisters.
How often do we think to ourself, “She never comes to Church—she’s a bad
Catholic” or, “He doesn’t believe that
yet he comes to Church? How dare
he!”? Jesus reminds the hypocrites
who didn’t believe in him, “Amen, I say
to you, tax
collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God
before you.” Would he
say the same about you or me today?
Judgment belongs to God alone. We may never know what is going on in a person’s life, which
is why it is so important to welcome people into the fullness of our faith
rather than beat people up with it.
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