“MORE THAN HANDS CAN HOLD”

WASTING OUR TIME

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Gospel Reading for August 22, 2026 – Matthew 23: 1-12

WASTING OUR TIME

Memorial of the Queenship ofthe Blessed Virgin Mary

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “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. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father;
you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

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Sometimes, the messenger of the Good News is not good. Sometimes, we find people preaching the Gospel but not living what they preach. Should that be a reason for us to reject the Good News?
We must always remember that the messenger is not the Good News. The One who is important is the source of the Good News—Jesus himself.

Many Catholics leave the Church because they find the messenger unworthy. But the truth is, no messenger is completely worthy, wherever we may go. What is most important is that we follow the teachings of Jesus, not the imperfections of those who proclaim them.

If we are like the scribes and Pharisees, intentionally trying to make people believe that we are good when we are not, then we are only WASTING OUR TIME. What do we gain from living a farce? We may be able to convince other people, but we will never be able to convince ourselves that we are truly good. Worse, God sees what is in our hearts and minds. We can never fool him.

Mary, our Queen, teach us to be humble servants of Christ, as you were. Amen.

ENLIGHTENED

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Gospel Reading for August 21, 2026 – Matthew 22: 34-40

ENLIGHTENED

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

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Loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and loving our neighbor as ourselves is the key to living the kind of life that will lead us to eternal life.

The Pharisees often asked questions, not because they genuinely wanted to know the answers, but because they wanted to test Jesus. This is why they failed to understand what Jesus was teaching and could not find the way that leads to the Father.

There are many questions about the Catholic Faith—its teachings and practices. Since most Catholics are baptized as infants, do we truly make the effort to seek answers to these questions so that we ourselves may be ENLIGHTENED and, in turn, become more deeply enriched in the practice of our Faith?

Lord Jesus, may we learn to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. May our love for You be reflected in the way we live and in the way we love others.