Daily Catholic Lectio. Tue, 27 Feb 2024. Actions

Daily Catholic Lectio

Tue, 27 February 2024

Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent

Isaiah 1:10, 16-20. Matthew 23:1-12

Actions

‘Not our words, but our actions express our priorities.’ The gospel reading puts forward two things about the importance of actions: (a) The Pharisees and the scribes, the contemporaries of Jesus’ time, treated words and actions as two realms different from each other; (b) They attributed their status to what they did externally.

These two are centred on one thought: actions are more important than words. When words are not converted into actions, they remain a bubble of air. People hide their distance between words and actions through extravagant outward expressions.

What is the lesson for us?

Maturity, or growth, lies in narrowing down the gap between our words and deeds.

In the first reading, Prophet Isaiah exhorts the people of Israel to learn to do good. Learning to do good is something that we need to learn as a skill.

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May our words transform themselves into actions. And may these actions bear fruit,  fruits of goodness. (Jubilee A. D. 2025, bite 41)

Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi

Archdiocese of Madurai

Missionary of Mercy