St. Theresa's Parish

Pastor’s Message

One day when Jesus was entering the synagogue, he encountered a man who had a withered hand. The Pharisees watched Jesus closely to see if He was going to cure the man on the Sabbath.

The Scriptures tell us this provoked Jesus and He became angry with the Pharisees’ hypocrisy and hardness of heart. They failed to recognize the Messiah who was in their midst and, therefore, closed themselves off from His message of salvation.

Commenting on this Gospel, Bishop Robert Barron said: “whenever the Bible speaks of the divine anger, it is talking poetically about God’s passion to set things right. God doesn’t go in and out of emotional states. He doesn’t fall into snits. He longs to establish justice on the earth and stands against those forces opposed to his purpose.”

The Pharisees were right about one thing. They did well to watch Jesus closely. If only they had done so with the right spirit: to learn from Him and to glorify God in the miracles that unfolded right before their very eyes. The Pharisees were the defenders of the law and Jewish customs.They were also bitter enemies of the Herodians who actively cooperated with King Herod and the Romans. Yet, this Gospel relates the chilling fact that these two bitter enemies joined forces to plot to kill Jesus. They are united not by the natural force of goodness, but by the hostile power of evil.

When we make sinful choices in our life, we, too, tap into the power of evil.When we make small concessions to hypocrisy, envy or even hatred, we run the risk of hardening our heart toward Christ,and jeopardize our own salvation. It’s like lying. We have all done it as children.Some adults have never grown out of it.A little white lie is easily justified (in our minds) to save someone from embarrassment or hurt feelings.Or, to save ourselves from punishment, disgrace or humiliation.But, before we know it, the snowflake of a lie has snowballed into an avalanche of disaster that can ruin reputations, bruise or fracture relationships, divide parishes and destroy lives.It is then that our actions give honour to Satan who is the ‘father of lies’.

Our challenge as Christians, is to remain faithful and true to Christ,For only He is the way, the truth and the life,the healer of our body and soul, and the Saviour of the world.

Fr David Kowalski