"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience," (Col 3:12)

Mt 23:13-22

Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves. "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If one swears by the temple, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated. 'Blind fools, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that made the gold sacred? And you say, 'If one swears by the altar, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gift on the altar, one is obligated. 'You blind ones, which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it; one who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it; one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who is seated on it."

Jesus asks what is more important? Is it what man thinks or what God thinks? If a man begins to understand his faith in his own way, to interpret God's truth in his own way, that is to put God under himself, then problems and doubts begin to arise, and faith begins to dilute. It turns out that it is not dangerous to lose faith, because the deformation of faith is more dangerous. Lost faith can be regained and even more firmly established in it, but a deformed faith is still carried in the heart, and one harms oneself, and then the faith of others is deformed in the same way. I once heard a story about a toy manufacturer who was rich and prosper. Unfortunately, as it happens in fairy tales, he had an enemy who wanted to destroy him. This evil man confided his cruel plan to one of his friends. He had only one problem: "I can't destroy all the toys, there are just too many of them." "You don't have to destroy all the toys," a friend told him. "All you have to do is destroy the form for making toys, and all the toys will come out broken." It is impossible to deform the faith of all people at once, but it is enough to deform it in the hearts of a few people, and they will go with it to other people, and those to others, and so poisoned faith will spread slowly, like a virus, around the world. In today's Gospel, Jesus reminds us of the responsibility for faith. Each of us is responsible for our faith and is to form it in such a way that it is pure, in accordance with the spirit of God, based on God, on His Word and in accordance with His will. Nothing can disturb the purity of our faith, because if it comes to what happened to the Pharisees and scribes, there will be a great spiritual disaster not only in our hearts, but also in the hearts of other people to whom God sends us. None of us is allowed to interpret faith in our own way, we are not allowed to say what many people say openly today: "according to me"; "I think it should be different." Saying such things aloud can confuse one's heart and damage faith, which is often already weak because of sin and the mentality of this world. Preaching false faith, giving the wrong Christian example, confusing people with our often-contradictory opinions about God, the Church, the doctrine, does not please God and provokes His anger, which Jesus publicly and openly demonstrates today in the Gospel. May we never forget what is most important in our faith, that is, its transparency, purity, and stability, built on God and His will.

Father Marcin Cwierz, OSPPE

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"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience," (Col 3:12)