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Gospel: Matthew 23: 27-32
Jesus said,
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside,
but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous,
but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You build the tombs of the prophets
and adorn the memorials of the righteous,
and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors,
we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’
Thus you bear witness against yourselves
that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets;
now fill up what your ancestors measured out!”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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When I entered the seminary, one of the first books I read was a novel called, The Diary of a Country Priest, by Georges Bernanos.
It’s about a young priest living in a small village in the French countryside. Most of the book is composed of his diary entries, documenting – among other things – the slow erosion of faith that happens in his parish.
Once zealous parishioners become lukewarm of heart.
“Faith,” he writes, “is not something you lose like a set of keys.”
It slowly weakens over time.
It can happen to anyone: life gets busy and we start missing Mass; prayer becomes routine or a prayer goes unanswered; a sudden shock or disappointment strikes; God becomes less involved in our daily decision making.
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I wonder if this what happened to some of the scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus criticizes in today’s Gospel.
Most of them were probably good, law-abiding men, whose faith slowly weakened over time; in fact, they became so blind that God was standing right in front of them and they didn’t even realize it!
What caused their loss of faith?
Perhaps a slow, growing attachment to human praise, important titles, or the world.
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What is my own spiritual life like? Do I feel my faith slowly slipping away or gradually getting stronger?
Rarely, if ever, is it neutral.
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Faith is not something we lose like a set of keys.
It’s weakened – or strengthened – over time. May God give us all the grace to strengthen it today.
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Image credits: (1) Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope (2) Roger Ebert (3) Pinterest