Today's readings are just as relevant for us today as the day they were written. Let's do a quick dive into the background of these readings so we can understand the context of what was written. In the first reading from Deuteronomy, Moses gives many rules to the Jewish people to live by. He tells them that this is necessary for their salvation. We know that by the time of Jesus, there were a little over 600 Commandments for practicing Jews. The Pharisees and Sadducees, as religious leaders, were under pressure by the pagan Greek culture, much as we are under pressure today by secularization, New Age rituals and gods of our own making.

Today we ask ourselves just as the Jews of 2000 years ago did: how can we bring our families and children to God…paganism and even satanism has saturated our society! How do we get non-believers to believe? The religious leaders of Jesus’ time - the Pharisees and Sadducees - doubled down on the ritual purity laws, and the priestly class asked the Jewish people to say MORE prayers, wash their hands and feet MORE times every day and perform other rituals MORE, thinking that abiding by more rules would make the Jewish people more perfect by imitating what the priestly class did. The Jewish people saw this as high-handed and hypocritical. This is the background that Jesus was facing when He spoke the words in today’s Gospel.

Jesus speaks on 2 levels in today’s Gospel - one level was seen by the Pharisees and Sadducees as pertaining to them, the other level was directed to the average Jew or Gentile that were in the crowd. On the first level, Jesus challenges the Pharisees and Sadducees who were trying to force their way of life on others. Sounds like things happening in secular society today, right? Just be quiet and do what I tell you! Jesus is castigating the religious leaders for the sin of pride which is one of the 7 deadly sins.

Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities and an inordinate self-love that is the cause of every sin... The root of pride consists in man not being, in some way, subject to God and His rule but rather being subject to the whims of bossy people rather than God. In this case, the Jewish religious leaders were considering themselves the model for all the Jewish people to achieve salvation.

On the other level, Jesus tells the Israelite people themselves to remember the big picture - that no outside rules that are forced on people can either

save them or condemn them. The responsibility is on them, the individual person. Jesus directly named the sins that are the result of pride so the Israelites

would understand. He named them: evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these things come from within and they defile.

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Today we, like the ancient Israelites, face many existential threats. We live in a time of profound pride, even arrogance. Our secular society has no place for God, just like the situation the Jews faced in Jesus’ time. What is the answer?

Jesus is telling us in today’s Gospel, just like He told the ancient Israelites, that the way out of our self-made mess is personal sanctification. He told them: "focus on Me". There are as many paths to heaven as there are people, so, if you want to save others, start by working on yourself. As we grow in our spiritual lives, it will become visible to others and our families and friends will join us. They will eventually tire of seeking mere pleasure and want, instead, the joy we exude. This week, let’s work to recognize our own inner-Pharisee and the inner

pride that lives within each of us and catch ourselves, knowing that we need to be wise and follow the laws of our faith, but at the same time not lose sight of Christ our Lord, who beckons us forward to follow him in spirit and in truth. If we truly focus on Christ, there will be no room for the sin of pride and the other sins which flow from it.  For Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.