Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

“Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge.”

Gospel Reading: Luke 11:47-54

The Lord said: “Woe to you who build the memorials of the prophets whom your fathers killed. Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building. Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and Apostles; some of them they will kill and persecute in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who died between the altar and the temple building. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood! Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.” When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.

Do you believe in the Word of God? As St John tells us in his Gospel, “In the beginning^* was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  The Word of God was with us from the beginning of time to help guide us and lead us to him.  God spoke to the prophets and used them as his mouth piece.   The prophets were sent to deliver the word of God to his people. Unfortunately, many of these prophets were martyred for their beliefs. Zechariah was a prophet who was stoned to death because he accused the Jews of being unfaithful to God’s laws. Abel was the first and Zechariah was the last of the prophets who were killed for their preaching and beliefs. Jesus confronts the Pharisees for the very same thing. They do not recognize Christ as the Messiah, the savior of the people of Israel. Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are no better than their ancestors who killed the prophets sent by his Father. Jesus’ coming was foretold and prophesied by the same ancestors who were tortured and killed by the Israelites. The Pharisees have not learned from their ancestors and continue to act in a similar manner. They still deny the Word of God.

Today we can find ourselves in the same boat as the Pharisees. We ignore the teachings God has sent through not only his prophets, but also his Son. We want to rationalize our own laws instead of the laws of Christ. God commanded us to love our neighbor, to help the poor and the meek and to reach out to those less fortunate. We are called to make sacrifices in our lives, yet we step over the very people Christ asked us to help. We become legalistic in our interpretation of the Word of God and manipulate his teachings to justify our  own greed and envy. We impose our own will and not the will of God. When we do this we take away the “keys of knowledge” which Christ provided for us. Who suffers from our actions? Not only this generation, but the generations to come. We should seek out the wisdom of God and open our hearts to His Word. We should seek the narrow door which leads us to the cross.  Anytime you say that I don’t believe or I don’t agree with the church, you are saying I don’t believe in the Word of God.  We must be willing to submit to his word and surrender our hearts to his will and not ours.

A Simple Prayer

Lord, open my mind to the wisdom of your prophets.

Open my soul to love and compassion of your son.

May I not become like the Pharisees and rationalize sin in my life.

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon