October 15, 2008

The Danger

In today's gospel Jesus condemns the scholars of the law:

Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply, “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.” And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.” Luke 11:45-46

It's disturbing to think that people who must have spent much of their lives studying the Sacred Scriptures and reflecting on the will of God ended up missing the point. And yet we know this from our own time, when many priests who, I presume, preached and taught and prayed each day have been found to have been involved in terrible crimes.

It just drives home to me the need to be somewhat ruthless in our examination of conscience and motives. Not that anyone should be so hard on themselves because of their sins--like those who do not seem to believe in the forgiveness of God, but that we should always be a little suspect of our own thoughts and excuses.

1 comment:

Don said...

It's not just priests. It's anyone who claims to know and live the Gospel. Reminds me of the quote from Matthew 15:8, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."