Reckoning with my shortcomings

A Reflection for Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Find today’s readings here.

Even for me, a person with no theology training at all, today’s Scripture reflection feels pretty straightforward. Jesus tells the Pharisees and scribes, the hypocrites, that in all their noble gestures, they have neglected “the weightier things of law: judgment and mercy and fidelity.” Ah…yes. The “weightier things” are the things that really matter to God. That makes sense.

So while the message is clear, the implication feels a bit less so. For me, I try to live as God wants me to: I go to Mass regularly; I am a hospice volunteer; I donate to charitable causes; I try to be a patient and loving mother, daughter, wife, sister and friend. I like to think that I am a good Catholic or, more simply put, a good person. But, really, am I more hypocritical than I would care to admit? Am I just checking the boxes that define whether someone is a good person or not?

Today’s responsorial psalm, “You have searched me and you know me, Lord,” is a perfect complement to the Gospel message. God knows us so well—perhaps even better than we know ourselves. He knows which of our efforts are performative or obligatory and which are sincere. Perhaps that is a reckoning we might consider having with ourselves?

If I am honest with myself (and now with all of you readers!), I admit to the following: I go to Mass each week, but I am sometimes impatient with my elderly father. I write a check to charitable causes, but I don’t always take time to learn the stories of the migrants suffering at the border. I walk around with ashes on my head on Ash Wednesday, but I occasionally forget to fast or abstain from eating meat on Fridays. All of these shortcomings are a testament to my humanity, to be sure, but also examples of where I might seek greater “judgment and mercy and fidelity” in all my actions and thoughts. A “weighty” but worthwhile charge for me…and perhaps for you as well?