READING OF THE DAY
GAL 5:18-25
Brothers and sisters:
If you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious:
immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry,
sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy,
outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness,
dissensions, factions, occasions of envy,
drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.
I warn you, as I warned you before,
that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh
with its passions and desires.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
LK 11:42-46
The Lord said:
“Woe to you Pharisees!
You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb,
but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God.
These you should have done, without overlooking the others.
Woe to you Pharisees!
You love the seat of honor in synagogues
and greetings in marketplaces.
Woe to you!
You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.”Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply,
“Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.”
And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law!
You impose on people burdens hard to carry,
but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
In his homily at Holy Mass, Pope Francis commented on the readings of the day taken […]. The Pope noted that the readings contain “four models of preachers: Jesus, the scribes, Eli the priest, and … the two sons of Eli, who were also priests”.
The scribes taught and preached yet placed heavy burdens on the people, “and the poor people could not go forward”, the Pope said. Jesus reproves them for not helping them, and he says to the people: “Practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do”. The scribes and pharisees acted as though “they were cudgeling the people”, the Pope added. Jesus therefore admonishes them, saying: “You shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in”.
Thus, even today, the Pope emphasized, this wrong way of preaching, of teaching, of bearing witness to one’s faith is used. “And there are many,” he lamented, “those who think that faith is like that.”
(Santa Marta, 14 January 2014)