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  Thursday – St. Monica Gospel - Matthew 24:24-51 Ready?   Set!   Go! Caesarea Philippi Remember that first day of school when we were little?   Maybe we were excited?   Maybe upset that the summer was over?   Maybe glad that we get to see our friends again?   Maybe nervous about a new teacher, new classes, new homework!   But do you remember all the work, all the preparation that our parents went through to get us ready for that day?   Shopping for school supplies, new clothes!   Trips to the grocery store for extra food to make for school lunches!   Maybe even getting us up early weeks before school started so that we were back on schedule.   Our parents probably spent weeks getting us ready for that first day of school.    And for many of you, you were doing exactly the same thing this week, getting your kids ready for school So much preparation!   And why do we do it?   Because we love our kids a...
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  Wednesday – 21 st Week in Ordinary Time Gospel - Matthew 23:27-32 Whitewashed Tombs Mount of Olives Cemetery, along Palm Sunday Road   There’s a story about a preacher who was accused of not practicing what he preached.   He responded; “Well, at least I don’t preach what I practice.”   Hypocrite!   It comes from a Greek word for “actor”, someone who put on a show for others.   Someone who acts a part and pretends to be good just for admiration and applause!   If you thought Jesus was blunt in yesterday’s Gospel, today goes way beyond!   The Pharisees and Scribes are like whitewashed tombs with only dead men’s bones and filth inside.   The Jews believed that contact with the dead automatically made you unclean; so the tombs were painted white to warn the people away, to prevent them from touching the stones.   So the Pharisees only appear righteous but they are ultimately only concerned with themselves!   But why such ...
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  Tuesday – 21 st Week in Ordinary Time Gospel - Matthew 23:23-26 Rotten on the Inside Spice Market, Jerusalem We haven’t had much luck with growing zucchini this year.   While the planst grow healthily for a while, then we are inundated with these little grubs (squash vine borers), and they end up rotting the crop from the outside.   Generally, we can see the rot coming but there are also plenty of times when the zucchini rots from the inside out and the problem is you don’t see it coming until you cut it open.   And then you have to just throw it  In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses extremely harsh language for the Pharisees and Scribes for being so clean and perfect on the outside, but utterly rotten within.   He chastises them for being so concerned about collecting tithes on herbs like cumin and dill and yet not caring at all about the welfare of the people.   The Law demanded that the people contribute 10% of all of their produce and crops to ...
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