Daily Gospel for Tuesday February 27, 2018

Gospel, Matthew 23:1-12

Then addressing the crowds and his disciples Jesus said,

'The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses.

You must therefore do and observe what they tell you; but do not be guided by what they do, since they do not practise what they preach.

They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people's shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them? Not they!

Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing broader headbands and longer tassels,

like wanting to take the place of honour at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues,

being greeted respectfully in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi.

'You, however, must not allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, since you have only one Master, and you are all brothers.

You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven.

Nor must you allow yourselves to be called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the Christ.

The greatest among you must be your servant.

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Reflection on the Gospel of the Lord

In today's Gospel, it teaches us the importance of Humility. In our lives today, it seems that humility is like a contradiction. We as human beings try to let everyone know that we do well on something to achieve greatness. We also want to be noticed and praised by everybody about the things that we excelled. The temptation to put forward our best faces before others and hope that everybody will admire it is always there. We try to boast ourselves and want to make things happen even without exerting effort.

But if someone questions us of the things great things that we do well or someone criticize us and thinks that the work we did is not good enough then we get easily offended. If someone is negative to the work that we did, we easily get devastated. If someone said that we are not good on the work that we excelled with, we get angry or depressed. Why? Are you the kind of person who only wants to hear good things? Are you the kind of person who can't take criticism? These happens because our pride is being attacked and it hurts. This will always happen to us if our pride is on the highest level and don't have humility. If we discover the gift of humility then we can always accept criticism or any negative things that anyone will throw to us.

Remember the Gospel about the scribes and Pharisees where they thought highly of themselves. They wanted that everybody will know the good works they have done. They wanted everyone to notice how good they were even to the clothes wear. They wanted everyone also to notice how pious they were. They wanted people to praise them as if they were Gods. And when Jesus Christ criticize the scribes and Pharisee, they get angry with Jesus.

The Gospel of the Lord reminds us to practice the virtue of humility at all times. To be able to accept criticism comfortably. To be able to be honest to ourselves nd simply be who we are.