Religious Whitewashing

Gospel: Matthew 23: 27-32

The words of Jesus in today's Gospel portion rings true in our time as much as in his own.  We are all too familiar with the cover-ups of scandal - sexual, financial, and otherwise.  We are no longer impressed with the religious finery of garb and liturgy that is not at all about God or the very core of religion which is the care of widows and orphans, the poor and oppressed, the sick and imprisoned, the migrant and foreigner of all kind.  

We too pay lip service to the prophets and martyrs.  We have raised to the altars such great figures as Maximillian Kolbe, Edith Stein, Titus Brandsma, and Oscar Romero.  We celebrate their feasts, and yet our religious leaders encourage us to support regimes in our time that resemble the very ones that executed these great saints - all the while calling each other "pro-life" and "faithful Catholics" - pro whose lives, and faithful to what is unclear...

The hypocrisy of institutional religion has two outcomes, one negative and the other positive.  The negative outcome is that many are scandalized and walk away from God and the path of virtue altogether.  The positive is that others set aside the illusions of institutional religion and become mystics, fully devoted to God and following the example of Jesus in extending mercy through healing, liberation, and nourishing those in need.  Today is a day to commit to this latter path.