Daily Reflections ...

Hypocrisy is deeply objectionable, but depressingly widespread. Failing, like the Pharisees, to ‘practise what we preach’ is so common that it’s a cliché. And this is particularly problematic when we are Christians: people who should be living examples of the Gospel but who instead, often enough, fail to live out the values of the kingdom of heaven and thereby cause others to be repelled at the idea of ever entering it.

It’s tempting to minimise the hypocrisy by downplaying our own faith commitment; telling others that we aren’t very good Catholics to excuse our faults. We might think we thereby reduce the scandal of any personal failings, but we’re just neutering the message of the Gospel from the outset. What then? Ultimately, the answer is that we must strive to bring our actions into alignment with our beliefs—the hard road of Christian discipleship. But this is not fundamentally about improvement through willpower: instead, Jesus shows us the first step.

Begin by seeing clearly. Don’t blind yourself to the truth by accepting a watered-down Gospel, where devotion and faith get mixed up with worldly values—swearing by the gold and the gifts, rather than the sanctuary and altar. When ordained, deacons are told to ‘believe what you read, teach what you believe, practise what you teach’. This is a progressive instruction, because having faith—believing—gives birth, through the mystery of grace, to a life of faith. This is something we can only learn experientially through following Christ, till both our words and our actions become anchored ‘by the throne of God and by the one who is seated on it’.

by Chad Hargrave