26 August 2025 (Tuesday) / Tuesday of week 21 in Ordinary Time / Ordinary Weekday

26 August 2025 (Tuesday)

Tuesday of week 21 in Ordinary Time.

Ordinary Weekday.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: First Thessalonians 2: 1-8
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 139: 1-3, 4-6
Alleluia: Hebrews 4: 12
Gospel: Matthew 23: 23-26

First Reading : 1 Thessalonians 2:1‐8

You know yourselves, my brothers, that our visit to you has not proved ineffectual. We had, as you know, been given rough treatment and been grossly insulted at Philippi, and it was our God who gave us the courage to proclaim his Good News to you in the face of great opposition. We have not taken to preaching because we are deluded, or immoral, or trying to deceive anyone; it was God who decided that we were fit to be entrusted with the Good News, and when we are speaking, we are not trying to please men but God, who can read our inmost thoughts. You know very well, and we can swear it before God, that never at any time have our speeches been simply flattery, or a cover for trying to get money; nor have we ever looked for any special honour from men, either from you or anybody else, when we could have imposed ourselves on you with full weight, as apostles of Christ. Instead, we were unassuming. Like a mother feeding and looking after her own children, we felt so devoted and protective towards you, and had come to love you so much, that we were eager to hand over to you not only the Good News but our whole lives as well.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 138(139):1‐3,4‐6

O Lord, you search me and you know me.

O Lord, you search me and you know me, you know my resting and my rising, you discern my purpose from afar.

O Lord, you search me and you know me.

You mark when I walk or lie down, all my ways lie open to you. Before ever a word is on my tongue you know it, O Lord, through and through.

O Lord, you search me and you know me.

Behind and before you besiege me, your hand ever laid upon me. Too wonderful for me this knowledge, too high, beyond my reach.

O Lord, you search me and you know me.

Alleluia: Hebrews 4: 12
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
12 The word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
(12. The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts more incisively than any two-edged sword: it can seek out the place where soul is divided from spirit, or joints from marrow; it can pass judgement on secret emotions and thoughts).
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel : Matthew 23:23‐26

Jesus said: ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who pay your tithe of mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law – justice, mercy, good faith! These you should have practised, without neglecting the others. You blind guides! Straining out gnats and swallowing camels! ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who clean the outside of cup and dish and leave the inside full of extortion and intemperance. Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside of cup and dish first so that the outside may become clean as well.’

For our reflection today:

Pick up the twenty-third chapter of the Gospel of Saint Matthew and see how many times Jesus says: “hypocrites, hypocrites, hypocrites”, and thus reveals what hypocrisy is. Hypocrites are people who pretend, flatter and deceive because they live with a mask over their faces and do not have the courage to face the truth. For this reason, they are not capable of truly loving: a hypocrite does not know how to love. They limit themselves to living out of egoism and do not have the strength to show their hearts transparently. We should never forget the Lord’s words: “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil” (Mt 5:37). Brothers and sisters, today, let us think about the hypocrisy that Jesus condemns: hypocrisy. And let us not be afraid to be truthful, to speak the truth, to hear the truth, to conform ourselves to the truth. In this way, we will be able to love. A hypocrite does not know how to love. To act other than truthfully means jeopardizing the unity of the Church, that unity for which the Lord himself prayed. (Pope Francis, General Audience, 25 August 2021)

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed  and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)