...."For they preach but do not practice."

…”For they preach but do not practice.” (Matt23:3)

While this is a series of notes for parents and grandparents to send to their offspring at college, it seems the reading this weekend (Thirty-first Sunday in ordinary Time) is designed for us.

We too are the scribes and Pharisees Jesus addresses.  We preach but do not practice.  We need to examine ourselves:  Do our actions reflect our words?  Do we show the gospel of Christ without words?

We too are the scribes and Pharisees, sitting on the seat of Moses, spouting truths and laws, but do not practice the words in reality.   We preach go to Sunday Mass, yet leave early to view the first quarter of a football game.  We spend hundreds on clothes we wear to church, but drop singles in the collection plate.

The masks we wear to cover our true selves are reminiscent of the Pharisees widening their phylacteries and lengthening their tassels.  We praise one to their face and mumble untruths about the person to the next person we meet. No wonder our kids and grandchildren are confused and tune out our words.

The truest person I ever knew did not speak.  He was injured in the Vietnam War.  Returning home all were saddened but him.  A smile was usually on his face; his arms were quick to give a hug.  He was my running partner; he always stopped to hear the chirping of the birds hidden in the trees or watch the boats anchored in the water.  As we ran, I would recite aloud the rosary; then I always felt Jesus was at my side.

“To thy own self be true,” says William Shakespeare.  It is as true today as in the time of Jesus or medieval England.