Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Don't be self-righteous!: Daily Mass Homily--Tuesday, December 16th, 2014


(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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