One Minute Reflection – 19 February – Tuesday of the Sixth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Mark 8:14–21 and the Memorial of Bl John Sullivan SJ (1861-1933)
And he cautioned them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”...Mark 8:15
REFLECTION – “Jesus tells us to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. That leaven is hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy is an internal division, you say one thing and do another. It is a sort of spiritual schizophrenia. Furthermore a hypocrite is a phoney – he seems good, courteous but he has a dagger behind him. A hypocrite is two-faced. He is a phoney. Jesus, speaking of these doctors of the law, affirms that they say one thing but do not do. This is another form of hypocrisy, it is existential nominalism – those who believe that, by saying things, everything is in order. No, things must be done, not just said. On the contrary, a hypocrite is a nominalist, he believes that everything is done with words. Moreover, a hypocrite is incapable of blaming himself, he never finds a smudge on himself, he blames others. Just think of the speck and the log, this is precisely how we can describe this leaven which is hypocrisy.
May the Lord give to us, to all of us, the Holy Spirit and the grace of the clarity to tell ourselves what is the leaven I grow with, which is the leaven I act with. Am I a just and transparent person or am I a hypocrite?”…Pope Francis – Santa Marta, 14 October 2016
PRAYER – God of mercy, teach us to live as You have ordained. Help us to follow Your commandments with courage and steadfast devotion. Let our Saviour be our master, help us to learn from Him, the ways of prayer in silence. Fill us with the fire of the Holy Spirit, that we may learn. Grant blessed Trinity, that by the prayers of Blessed John Sullivan, we may grow in holiness. Through Jesus our Lord, in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God forever. Amen
AnaStpaul 