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Gospel Reflection for Tuesday, February 11, 2025
It Must Be a Matter of Perspective. Or Maybe Even Sharpness of Vision.
Some people have an incredible ability to confuse what is essential with what is secondary. Let me give an extreme example. I once met someone who would go from parish to parish attending Mass—and, in the process, would report the bishop of his diocese every time the celebrating priest mispronounced a word or omitted the slightest part of the Eucharistic prayer or the preface.
It never even crossed this person’s mind to consider whether there was a living Christian community in the parish, whether the people attending Mass were truly participating or just standing there like statues of salt. Apparently, none of that mattered compared to these tiny omissions, or whether there were two or three candles on the altar, or… This might be an extreme case, but I have met people for whom receiving Communion in the hand or on the tongue is the difference between being a true Christian or a blasphemer.
We must focus on what truly matters—beyond just following the rules. Because rules can be followed, but sometimes, with no life behind them. And it all becomes nothing more than “I fulfill and I lie.” A purely external compliance that means nothing and involves nothing of the person.
Following Jesus, being a Christian, is much more than obeying the rules of canon law, liturgy, or the commandments of the Church. It is about a personal relationship with Jesus, about living out brotherly love—because that is what defines the Kingdom, that is what truly brings us closer to God, and that is what makes us more like Him.
To those who only focus on rules, Jesus clearly calls them hypocrites. He reminds them of what the prophet Isaiah said: “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13). May we not fall into hypocrisy, deceiving ourselves into thinking that simply following the rules is enough. Only in love will we truly encounter God.