The Catholic Calendar for Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Readings from the Liturgy of the Word:
2 Thessalonians 3:6-10, 16-18
Psalm 128:1-2, 4-5
Matthew 23:27-32

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

You have certainly heard the old cliché, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” That is the message we receive from our Lord today. His very stern message to the Pharisees concerned their outward appearance; they took great care to keep up the appearance of righteousness and piety. While inside they were corrupt and far from resembling their righteous exteriors. We can easily fall into the same trap today if we are not careful.

But there is another trap that we seem to fall into a lot in our modern society that also has to do with judging a book by its cover. That is turning away from those whose outward appearance may not be up to our standards of righteousness, or even cleanliness. The poor in our society, those with substance abuse problems that live on our streets, those who have become disfigured in some way and those who just don’t seem to "measure up" are often cast away by those of us who claim to be Christian. This, too, is a grave wrong and not up to the expectations our Lord has for us. Remember that we all should strive to see our Lord in everyone we meet even those we find do not meet our arbitrary standards.

- Don Claunch, SFO
(dlclaunch at bresnan dot net)