HYPOCRISY; THE MASK WE CHOOSE TO WEAR!
Reflection for the 8th Sunday in ordinary time by Rev. Fr. Theodore Martinos.
It’s Normal as a businessman/businesswoman to Evaluate The Accounting Records of your Firm at Regular Intervals. Of course you wouldn’t want to Falsify your accounts especially when it’s your personal business, you’ll be true to yourself!
In that Same Vein, We as Christians need to evaluate ourselves regularly. Sometimes Your life in the Confines of your house is quite different from that which you portray/preach in the Church or outside.
The readings of today are asking questions – Do you run a balanced Account sheet with God❓
The readings of today challenges us to the kind of life we live.
The claim or pretense of holding beliefs, standards, qualities, opinions, virtues that one does not actually possess, applying criticism to others that one does not apply equally to oneself is Called Hypcrisy! Hypocrisy is gotten from the greek word ” Hypokritē ” meaning “an actor or a stage player” It’s a moral self-contradiction whereby the behavior of one or more people belies their own claimed or implied possession of certain beliefs, standards or virtues.
An Actor as translated lives a life on the stage and another off the stage, are you living Such life as a Christian❓
Today we’re called to embrace the virtue of humility! To be humble and embrace whom we truly are. Because people actually know your true colour no matter how hard you try to hide it, even Jesus said- A Good Tree cannot produce bad fruit! And a bad tree cannot produce a good fruit(Matthew 7:18).
An hypocrite goes about Proclaiming “I better pass you”, even when he/she wants to correct you …he/she will do it with an aura of self righteousness , always finding it difficult to correct with humility, thinks so high of himself and what’s worse is that he doesn’t even see God!!
In the Gospel of today , Jesus tells us to Remove the Log in our Eye before removing the speck in neighbour’s eye so you can see clearly.
If you’re Spiritually blind as a Christian ..when you see others , you see only their fault and when you try to correct ..you turn the person to a victim instead of a convert!
‘Out of the Abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh'(Matthew 12:34) , From what do u speak❓Do you speak with Compassion❓
On the other hand , Correction is a part of life as a matter of fact it’s our Moral ,Religious and Civic responsibility to Correct your neighbor who may have erred! But when you do , Correct with Love! Do not get Offended when being corrected because even Jesus was Crucified when he came down to correct our Wrongs. Pray for the Grace to live a Humble Life devoid of Hypocrisy!
Happy New month! & Have a Great week ahead❕