Introit: Psalm 46:2
Lesson: Romans 6:19-23
Gradual: Ps 33:12, 6
Gospel: Matt 7:15-21
Communion: Psalm 30:3
Sometimes our lives is a paradox of what we are and who we project to be–in which case, it has become all too common to see people feasting on others’ faults when they learn of façades crumbling and disintegrating, as if crucifying hypocrites is justice personified. Well, this may be perceived to be entirely reasonable at face value, given that when one dares to portray someone they are not is synonymous to deception, a scheme to redeem oneself from open shame yet not with sincere reparation but of beguilement. What is more remarkable about this phenomenon, though, is the sheer mettle of just about anyone to point their fingers at their neighbour to be the most fraudulent individual they have ever met, sometimes even pathologising them to be mentally unwell through various psychology-related terminologies that abound with even more nuances regarding such a subject (but relatively ignored unless it suited their mindsets). Especially now in this modern era spurred on by the age of information, social media has become replete with users who comment on just about everything and anything, acting as infallible judges of character whose credentials do not have any sort of traction to do so, save for the fact they have have created an account for free together with the knowledge of exploiting any freedoms of expression they believe they ought to be entitled to. Hence, the world becomes louder and noisier, notwithstanding the natural law and the reality of human weaknesses, as it plunges more into the depths of human banality manifested by people constantly clamouring for truth and the authentic life yet fail to acknowledge their own inner maledictions, i.e., the dirt of the human soul.
It has been read time and again in the letter to the Romans where St. Paul talks about the sin of Adam entering into the world thereby corrupting both the inner man and the physical aspect of the human person. This sense of humanity’s fallen nature is highlighted even more in our reading of this Sunday’s Epistle: for as you yielded your members as slaves of uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now yield your members as slaves of justice unto sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free as regards justice. During the Fall, our first parents succumbed to the devil’s deception which then paved the way for Death’s hold upon the soul. We then fell into the trap of vice and sin, valuing the lower passions instead of an intellect oriented towards the Divine. Consequentially, we became more open to falsehood rather than truth, to a fraudulent perception of ourselves as perfect in contrast to the realities of our own defects. Saint Paul similarly emphasized this in one of his letters to the Thessalonians where he gave a brutal exposition of humans enslaved by sin: And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
Now, in the Gospel, Our Lord gives a more practical illustration about those who portray themselves as pristine vessels entitled to the indwelling of God’s inspirations in their souls but in reality are soiled, depraved, and spiritually despicable. What makes matters worse is that these very same people are those who love, more than anything else, to exhibit such perceptions of worthiness to God that they end up forgetting how they have been broken by their own spiritual, moral, and temporal deficits. Jesus describes them aptly: false prophets dressed as sheep’s clothing, as though they could forever hide from accountability while playing the role of benevolence and virtue. In this, He provides us with a determiner: A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Anyone can claim to be a Christian but be callous enough to slack off in his or her responsibilities to cultivate an edified spiritual life and be a hypocrite instead. As much as God is the ultimate good, He cannot be mocked by implying that He can forgo rightful judgment just because of His all-encompassing mercy. The Prophet Jeremiah impeccably sums this up: I am the Lord who search the heart and prove the reins: who give to every one according to his way, and according to the fruit of his devices. (Jeremiah 17:10)
We should be nothing more or less than God’s children; therefore, let us rid ourselves of the trappings of guile. We must be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and we shall never fulfill being such if we merely seek privilege and adulation through adorning ourselves with multiple masks.