Gospel

“You are the children of those who murdered the prophets”
A reading from the Gospel according to 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 prophetsand 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 yourselvesthat you are the children of those who murdered the prophets;now fill up what your ancestors measured out!”

The Gospel of the Lord

Marital Heart Attack

When we let ourselves be driven by a passion that doesn’t bring us closer to God, and our only concern is to ensure that no one finds out, or when we’re hurting ourselves and don’t want the neighbors to know, or when we avoid having our children present so we can hurt each other without mercy… It might be that I’m more concerned with not exposing the damage, forgetting that it’s killing my heart, and that harm is unforgiving. The consequences of that destruction will eventually catch up with us. We might also be forgetting that, no matter how much we want to hide, in all these situations there’s one exceptional spectator we can’t hide anything from, and that’s God. How good it is to realize that it’s pointless to hide our wrongdoing on the outside if we’re not fighting to prevent it within. God’s eyes are fixed on my soul, and He is the only spectator who truly matters. I can’t hide anything from Him. May I never forget that.

Applied to married life:

James: Anna,I see that every argument leaves a sediment in our hearts that keeps growing and distances us more each time. It’s true that we forgive each other, but the damage is done, and that’s like a marital heart attack, causing part of the relationship to die, making it harder and harder to move forward.

Anna: You’re right. Our souls are also affected, making it harder to advance towards God. We need to make a firm resolution to avoid hurting each other. God transforms our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, but with every wound, we develop a scar, and they’re no longer as soft as before.

James: We have a lot at stake, Anna. Our vocation, the example we set for our children, eternal life… We need to put more effort into this.

Anna: We need to live more deeply, closer to God, and create more of a God-centered atmosphere between us. Only God can protect us and make all things new.

James: That sounds good. I love you and want to love you more.
Anna: I love you and want to love you more.

Mother,

The things of God are beautiful. Sometimes we’ve discovered wrong paths because they weren’t beautiful. The things of God must be beautiful in their very essence and, therefore, must generate beauty around them. There’s nothing more beautiful than God. Praise be to my God, who is great and full of Life.