Woe to Leaders

The first half of our Mass is devoted to the Liturgy of the Word.

We have our First Reading, usually from the Old Testament, sometimes from the New.

That’s followed by a Psalm with responses, and then a Gospel passage.

On Sundays and special feasts we also insert a Second Reading from the New Testament.

But how do we decide which Scripture passages to read?

We follow a guide called the Ordo, and a set of books called the Lectionary.

There has been some form of Lectionary since at least the 5^th Century.

The first is attributed to St Jerome.

That first Lectionary covered only Sundays.

But it has evolved over the years though many updates,

Under the guidance of Church committees.

The current Lectionary covers weekdays as well as Sundays.

It has a three-year Sunday cycle that covers all four Gospels in considerable detail.

One year each for Matthew, Mark and Luke.

And with John repeated each year during the Lenten and Easter season.

The weekday Lectionary follows a two-year cycle.

Again, allowing for a fairly comprehensive coverage of each Book of the Gospels.

But even so, it doesn’t provide a complete verse-by-verse reading through each Book.

Some verses are skipped over, especially in the Sunday sequences.

And serial weekday installments are sometimes replaced by readings for a saint’s memorial.

Today’s Gospel gives us a second day of sharp criticism and warnings to religious leaders.

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees.

You hypocrites, you blind guides.

And tomorrow, our Gospel will continue with a third day of warnings.

This three-day repetition seems like something the committees could have trimmed down.

But they didn’t.

And that’s encouraging.

It shows that those committee members, themselves all Church leaders,

See the vital importance of leaders serving well and fully meeting their responsibilities.

They see the dangers, and the need for repeating the warnings.

They’re aware of the devastating damage that blind guides and hypocrites can do.

Today’s message to leaders is—focus on the most important things.

Give appropriate attention to the smaller matters, but don’t exaggerate their importance.

Devote your efforts to judgment and mercy and fidelity.

Focus on the two great commandments—love God and neighbor.

Today’s message is not only for high-ranking Church leaders, but for all of us.

It’s direct guidance from Jesus himself to each of us as members of his Church.

Telling us how to stay on the path to the peace of his kingdom.

But it’s also guidance to each of us as leaders.

Because as members of his Church we are also leaders.

There are always others looking to our example as they search to find their own way.

Tuesday, 21st Week in Ordinary Time

Mt 23:23-26           Read this Scripture @usccb.org