Today's Gospel

Your Two Measuring Sticks

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Matthew 23:1-12. "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do. For they preach but do not practice. They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by men, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogue and salutation in the marketplace and being called rabbi by men. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren, and call no man your father on earth, for you have one father who is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for you have one master for Christ. He who is the greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

What jumps out at you today? I think this image of the Pharisees and the scribes placing heavy burdens on people is the thing that sort of the Holy Spirit stirs up in me today. And how do we do that? I think sometimes we do that without judgment, right? Somebody will do something and we judge them for doing something or not doing something or doing something poorly and we use a different measuring stick to measure their actions than we do our own actions. Very often we judge other people by their words and actions, but we judge ourselves by our intentions. We intended to do good. Well, we didn't actually do good, but we intended to do good. We intended to do a good job. We didn't do a good job, but we intended to do a good job. And so by judging ourselves by our intentions, but other people by their words and actions, we're setting up this duplicity, this different measuring system. And in doing so, we can place heavy burdens on other people, just like the Pharisees and the scribes did. So let's reflect today. Who are you placing a heavy burden on? And how can you rectify that? Who am I placing a heavy burden on? And how can I rectify that? Have a great day. And remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.

When's the last time you allowed an experience to touch the very depths of your soul? That's from my new book, Slowing Down to the Speed of Joy. If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, encourage you to pick up a copy. It's about probably one of the biggest struggles in my life, and that is to escape like the insanity of busyness and the insanity of the urgent. In order to allow experiences to touch the very depths of our soul, we do have to slow.