DAILY MASS REFLECTIONS ELEVENTH TUESDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

DAILY MASS REFLECTIONS ELEVENTH TUESDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Greetings brothers and sisters, As a result of their repetition on Ash Wednesday every year, the words of the Lord in today's Gospel reading are well known to us. The average person is likely to misinterpret these terms since they are so broad in scope.

In the presence of others, our failure to engage in charitable deeds, pray, and fast is criticized by Jesus. However, we heard a portion of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount last Week, in which he declares that we are the light of the world, like a city built on a hill, and that we are the salt of the earth. For others to recognize our good deeds and glorify God, we must let our light to shine before them in order for them to notice.

Making our religious beliefs public is something that is widely accepted. People who publicly claim their religious views solely for the purpose of garnering the attention of others are the ones whom the Lord is warning us against, according to the Scriptures. Authenticity and honesty are at the heart of the issue. Praying in public should be followed by a way of life that is consistent with the prayers we are saying privately. It is important that we combine our physical fasting from food with a spiritual fasting from arrogance, self-righteousness, and jumping to conclusions. Aside from that, we're just trying to lose weight.

It should be the emphasis of our charitable efforts to help those who have been broken by life or who have never experienced a substantial change in their lives. In addition, we're asking for a tax deduction for charitable contributions, which is all we're after right now.

When it comes to our religious life, the issue isn't so much about how much of it people can see as it is about how much of it people can't see. Maybe what people can see of us reflects what they can't see of us? Could it be that the part of us that people can see is a mirror for the part of us that people can't see? If this is not the case, we are simply actors on a stage who are more concerned with the applause and the reviews than we are with the truth of our own life.

When it comes to what is going on behind the scenes, the Lord is more concerned than he is with what we do on stage. What is going on "behind the scenes," as Jesus says in today's Gospel, is apparent to God because it reflects his or her character.