BEADS OF JOY 10-12-16
“Woe To You Pharisees!”
©2016 James Dacey, Jr. OFS
My Friends,
Today’s Gospel: Luke 11:42-46 (Woe To You Pharisees!)
“But woe to you Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! for you love the best seat in the synagogues and salutations in the market places. Woe to you! for you are like graves which are not seen, and men walk over them without knowing it." One of the lawyers answered him, "Teacher, in saying this you reproach us also." And he said, "Woe to you lawyers also! for you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”
Reflection:
Yes the word “Woe” is our Lord’s anger towards the Pharisees, but even more than that it is His sorrowful pity towards them. The Pharisees and the Scribes devoted their lives to the Law of Moses; yet in all their years of study and devotion it only resulted in countless thousands of tiny little rules that equaled fifty volumes of what you can and can’t do. How sad! All they were inevitably were doing was leading the people to Pharisaism not to God. The lesson I see here, is that Jesus is stressing God’s love; not the burdens the Pharisees were putting the people.
To me the whole point of having our Lord in your life; it’s to help lighten the load of stress and burden and suffering in your life. Right? When you know of someone suffering or having to deal some challenge that is overwhelming to themselves or their family, do you help them? Or do you further burden them with speeches of “well if you would have only done this or that you wouldn’t be in this situation...” only adding more burden to their lives? Jesus teaches us to love, not to judge. If we are to be true followers of Jesus and we want to be like Him; then we must love and care and do whatever we can to help lighten someone’s load when they are suffering.
Our hearts must be open to others at all times. There is no point in our faith, if we seclude ourselves from the suffering and pain of those around us. Jesus did not hide or cover His ears when someone He knew or even a stranger cried out in pain asking for help. We to must not add burden to them by ignoring them. The Pharisees and the Scribes for whatever reason only added burden to the people, making life more and more difficult; putting themselves above everyone. No man is greater than God, we are all God’s children and we must all work together to help one another get to Heaven together.
“That is why I believe God has made us “family” so that we will all work together; even if we don’t know one another, we are all still siblings, we are all of the same family, the same blood.” ~me
Get it! That’s how I see it. So let’s work together, helping one another, praying for one another, tending to one another, doing all we can to lighten one another’s load. For love of one another! For true fellowship! For our family bond! For our love for God! For the goal to be in Heaven together! Always a pleasure sharing with all of you. Till tomorrow. Love & Peace always…
LOVE YOU GUYS !!!!
Your brother in Christ Jesus
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS
**(NEW DAILY FEATURE)
Today is Wednesday: We pray the Glorious Mysteries:
The Glorious Mysteries
1. The Resurrection (Faith) –Mark 16:1-8
2. The Ascension (Hope) –Luke 24:50-53
3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit (Love) –Acts 2:1-4
4. The Assumption of Our Lady
(Grace of a Happy Death) –Rev 12:1-6
5. The Coronation of Mary (Mary’s intercession) –Judith 15:9-10
Glory and Honor and Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ!
Rosary Man Jim's Glorious Reflections: http://beads-of-joy-blog.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-glorious-mysteries.html
