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We often forget that Jesus reprimands pretty hard at times in the Gospels.
As I’ve noticed, we tend to read these passages where Christ calls out the Pharisees and scribes, with our arms crossed as we say, “That’s right! Call ‘em out! The hypocrites!”
Then we go about our business sure that we are in no way like those arrogant, self-righteous Pharisees. Which means, we never take the time to see if what we believe is hypocritical.
The verse that stood out to me the most from our reading from the Gospel of Matthew was where Jesus says to the Pharisees and scribes, “You say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’”
Historical arrogance gets a lot of us in trouble.
“Well, *I* wouldn’t have been involved in the morally corrupt things of the past.”
“I wouldn’t have taken part in the genocide committed by the Nazis.”
If you in anyway support abortion, you support genocide. The murder of millions, no matter the method, is genocide.
“I would never have been a part of slavery.”
If you in anyway support pornography or even feel it’s no big deal, you support modern-day slavery in the form of sex trafficking.
“I would never be like the ignorant, uneducated folks of the past who ignored science and only followed their church.”
If you in anyway support the false and dangerous idea that men can be women and women can be men, you are ignoring biology.
“I’m a good Catholic, I just feel the Church gets somethings wrong in the area of morals.”
If you find that you believe your authority on matters trumps what the Church teaches, you are doing the same thing as the Protestant revolters.
We love to look back on people of the past and feel scorn for the practices they engaged in, but we do ourselves no favors by being blind to the modern-day ways we support immoral practices.
It’s the same old song, just a different tune, Catholic Pilgrims. We must check ourselves to make sure we are not being hypocrites. There is a bit of Pharisee and scribe in all of us. The only way to combat that is to be brutally honest with ourselves.
Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Wednesday.
Day Nine of US landmarks and Catholic connections in our lead up to America's 250th Birthday. Today's Location: US NAVAL ACADEMY I've realized that I'm a mid-sized town gal and Annapolis definitely appealed to me. Annapolis is home to the Naval Academy, which I got to visit in 2022. We have two Catholic connections. 1. This gate that you see here is named after Commodore John Barry who was a devout Irish Catholic. He died long before the Academy came around, but he was personally chosen by George Washington to be the very first commissioned officer and first flag officer of the permanent U.S. Navy. 2. If you visit the Naval Academy Chapel there is a basement where you will find a Blessed Sacrament room. It is in honor of Servant of God Father Capodonna, the "Grunt" padre that was killed in Vietnam on September 4, 1967. Every September there is a Mass said in his honor in the chapel. Even though my hubby is an Airman, I am the granddaughter of a WWII Navy vet. While my grandfather did not attend here, it was still special for me to visit. I highly recommend Annapolis, Catholic Pilgrims, and if you are able to be cleared onto the Academy, I would encourage you visit. The grounds are beautiful. Live the Faith boldly and travel well!
Continue ReadingDay Seven of US landmarks and Catholic connections in our lead up to America's 250th Birthday. Our feature for today: NIAGRA FALLS Anybody wanna hop back and forth between borders? The Falls are nearly almost divided in half between Canada and the US. Now, I've never been, so this isn't my photo, but I'm guessing this was taken from the Canadian side. Maybe? But what, Amy, is the Catholic connection, you ask? Well, these Falls were first documented in the 17th century by a Belgium monk named Father Louis Hennepin. He was a Franciscan missionary and his documentation really was his claim to fame. He explored lots of other territory in what would become the United States, but he often embellished his stories and this got him into some trouble. However, he did make an "engraving of the Falls of Niagara. It is out of proportion, but its general features give an accurate idea of the appearance of the Falls at his time." I do hope to go to the Falls someday and apparently in the surrounding area, both in Canada and Buffalo, NY, there are some excellent Catholic Churches to visit. Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims!
Continue ReadingDay Five of US landmarks and Catholic connections in our lead up to America's 250th Birthday. Today's landmark: CENTRAL PARK Why does my picture from 2005 look ancient? In 2005 my family visited NY after attending a graduation for my husband's cousin in Connecticut. This is me with my oldest (now 24 years old) at the famous Bethesda Terrace with the Angel of the Waters Fountain. The Pool of Bethesda, if you'll recall from the Bible, was a famous healing site in Jerusalem. The Jews believed that an angel stirred up the water and when it was stirred up, whoever got in first would be healed. So, we have a Biblical connection here. Another one is that Pope John Paul II said Mass on the Great Lawn on October 7th, 1995 for a crowd of over 125,000. Also, one of our most visited Catholic Churches sits just south of Central Park and that is, you guessed it, St. Patrick's Cathedral. Archbishop John Hughes (1797–1864), was one of the most famous Catholics in NY history. He was around when Central Park was being created. He was the first archbishop of NY, when it became elevated to an archdiocese. So, there's your Monday morning Catholic history lesson! Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
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