DAILY- HOMILY

October 16, 2018 – TUESDAY, 28th Week in Ordinary Time 

St. Hedwig, Religious 

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Religious

Green.

Gal 5: 1 - 6 ILk 11: 37- 41

From Bavaria, St. Hedwig (1174 -1243) was Duchess of Silesia and the wife of the Duke of Portugal and mother of seven children.

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647 - 1690), a French nun of the Visitation Convent of Paray-le-Monial, had mystical revelations on devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

FROM THE 1ST READING:             Gal 5: 5- 6.

As for us, the Spirit imparts to us this hope that through faith we shall be set right with God. In Christ Jesus it is irrelevant whether we be circumcised or not; what matters is faith working through love.

GOSPEL READING:           Lk 11: 37- 41

As Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to have a meal with him. So he went and sat at table. The Pharisee then wondered why Jesus did not first wash his hands before dinner. But the Lord said to him, "So then, you Pharisees, you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside yourselves you are full of greed and evil. Fools! He who made the outside also made the inside. But according to you, by the mere giving of alms everything is made clean."

REFLECTION

In the first reading Paul reminds all that "in Christ Jesus it is irrelevant whether we be circumcised or not: what matters is faith working through love." Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the Church affirmed that all, Jews and Gentiles, were called to salvation through faith in Christ.

In the Gospel reading Jesus reprimands the Pharisees for their hypocrisy in their many rules: they have endless prescriptions about ritual purity and cleanliness, about preparing food and eating. Yet they are "full of greed and evil."

At times we too could be like the Pharisees, quick to judge others while we ignore our own failures and imperfections. I am reminded of a woman who from her kitchen window saw her neighbor's laundry hanging to dry in the yard. The woman was critical that her laundry was not properly cleaned and washed.

One day she was surprised to see the neighbor's laundry looking clean and spotless. She told her husband, "Finally, our neighbor has learned to wash her laundry properly." Her husband said, "You did not notice? Yesterday I found time to clean our kitchen windows."

Lord, help me to become more understanding of others. Help me, Lord, not to be a fault-finder but a loving person instead. Help me to be discerning and yet not judgmental of others in their motives and actions. Teach me to be humble and generous.

Have a good day!

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