Daily Mass Readings 08/23/2014 or Would You Board a Cruise Ship if the Captain Was Wearing Waterwings?

"The scribes and the Pharisees
have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,
but do not follow their example.
For they preach but they do not practice." -MT 23:2-3

08/23/2014 Saturday in the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time

They don't practice what they preach! How horribly hypocritical! Well then, that's a good reason for us to totally ignore them and do whatever we want!

How often is this our attitude? When I was little I had a cardiologist who was a smoker. Can you imagine that? A pediatric cardiologist who smokes! That is totally absurd! But you know what, he was not only an incredibly kind, patient, loving and remarkable man, he was also an incredible cardiologist.

We see this in the lives of so many saints as well. As the old saying goes; "Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future!" As human beings, we are not perfect. But there is nothing to say that God cannot speak and act through us despite those imperfections. The bible is a book FULL of examples of this. The Old Testament has a string of questionable characters. St. Paul persecuted Christians before his encounter with Christ and becoming the greatest evangelist for His good news. Peter denied Christ to save his own skin out of fear, but he became the rock upon which Christ would build his church and our first pope.

The message is double-sided. First, make sure you give everyone a fair shot. Sometimes you have to listen to what people say independent of the source. Nobody has a patent on good ideas and God can point you along your path using any signpost He wants.

The other side of this is to remember that you too are an imperfect vessel. But your imperfections do not keep you from being an instrument of God. He is capable of bringing you through anything He calls you to do. As followers of Christ, we have a responsibility to try to improve our imperfections and follow Jesus more perfectly every day but that doesn't mean we need to keep our mouths shut until we reach perfection. We need to share our journey with others and help to lead them closer to God as well.

Everyone have a good weekend and don't forget this Sunday is, well, Sunday, so get to Mass! You never know what God has waiting there for you.

God bless,
P.D.O.

Quick housekeeping note- I am taking a few days away from the computer as I have been logging major screen time lately and need to get back in touch with the real, organic world. I should be back and writing again on Monday night.