21ST WEDNESDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Matthew 23:27-32) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
- NHA CHUA CHA
- Aug 27
- 3 min read
FIRST READING - 1 Thess 2:9-13
"Working night and day, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God."
A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians
9 You recall, brothers, our toil and drudgery. Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers. 11 As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children, 12 exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you conduct yourselves as worthy of the God who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
13 And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Mt 23:27-32
"You are the children of those who murdered the prophets!"
✠From the Gospel according to Matthew
27 [a]“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. 28 Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.
29 [b]“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,[c] you hypocrites. You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous, 30 and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’ 31 Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets; 32 now fill up what your ancestors measured out!
21ST WEDNESDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Matthew 23:27-32)
THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
Dear People of God,
In today’s Word of God, God the Father calls all His children to live sincerely with God the Father and with their brothers and sisters.
What does it mean to live sincerely? It means living truthfully from within the soul as well as outwardly, according to what God the Father teaches. How one thinks, how one acts, and how one loves with the heart must be in harmony—body and soul must be united as one; otherwise, they will become inconsistent and out of sync with each other.
God the Father invites all the children of God to:
Look upon Jesus Christ, who was pierced. He did not only speak theoretical teachings, but He practiced them through His very life: it was sacrifice, it was love, to exchange love with humanity. His sacrifice was proven by action through the death of the Only Begotten Son of the Most High God. This is the greatest example on this earth, which God calls the children of God to look upon—the sacrifice and the loving person of Jesus Christ.
God instructs His children to be vigilant against the temptations of Satan. Satan is the one who opposes God; therefore, he will seek every way to snatch souls away from the love and mercy of the Most High God. God the Father does not want to lose even a single soul.
Today’s Word of God warns humanity to:
Live righteously in thought, word, action, and deed. Do not live in hypocrisy, false virtue, or false righteousness, for such things are not pleasing to God the Father, but only bring satisfaction to Satan.
Whoever has heard the Word of God today, must make sacrifices, listen to the Word of God, and put it into practice: change one’s life, abandon the sinful path of Satan, and live as a new person—loving from within and outwardly ; not like the hypocritical scribes of old.
If anyone has sinned and offended God the Father through a life of hypocrisy, ask for the strength of God and also of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to courageously rise and return to the love and mercy of God the Father. Then surely Satan will have to retreat from that person.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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