MEMORIAL ST AUGUSTINE, THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, AUGUST 28, 2025

MASS READINGS:

Gospel

Matthew 24:42-51

Jesus said to his disciples: "Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so. Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is long delayed,' and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards, the servant's master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."

REFLECTION

"assign him a place with the hypocrites"

The Pharisees and the scribes are focused on the outside stuff. They are called hypocrites. Now the disciples of Jesus are spoken to regarding hypocrisy.

We behave one way in front of our bosses, priests, family and church members but have a different lifestyle or keep our sins and secrets out of the public's view. We all have this obsession with the way we present to the world, maintaining a certain persona for others to see.

The life and teachings of Jesus are before us in the Holy Bible, His ultimate redemptive act remembered in the Mass and the teachings of the Saints and Doctors of the Church. Yet, we don't see our flaws: how we interact with others, our words carelessly or thoughtlessly spoken breaking a heart and ending a relationship, or what we say or "emoji" on an inappropriate social media comment or content. We justify why we say something but do the contrary, or pray continuously and forget our fellowman in need....Yes, the homeless, the poor, the widowed, and our family.

So much time is spent trying to please people or keeping up a persona. Reflect, instead, using this time, effort and energy to develop our interior life becoming who God intended us to be. “Put on Christ as our cloth of charity, the bond of perfection.” (Col 3:12)

Guilty of hypocrisy, let us work on our interior life and relationship with God through prayer, both mental and meditative, daily rosary, frequent confessions, Adoration and daily “end of day” examination of conscience. Daily Mass and the Holy Eucharist properly prepared for and attended obtain many virtues and graces for us and will keep us out of being "assigned a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."

Watch the eyes, ears, tongue, heart and lips so that when our knees genuflect before the Lord, all our senses can open in us the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

May we emulate Jesus Christ.

God Bless You