Hello everyone! Heyo! Welcome back to Scattering Flowers with Elise and Miles, a podcast where we read the daily gospels and the saint of the day.
Let’s get started! Today is Thursday, August 28th, and the gospel reading is Matthew 23, 27 through 32.
And the scripture to reflect on is Matthew 23, 29. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous. Do you know what a hypocrite is?
A hypocrite is someone that says something but does something else.
Like they tell people to do stuff, but they don’t do what they tell people to do.
I have a funniest story about this.
One time I was waiting for my brother at his karate lesson and one of the kids in his class arrived super late.
And his mom was really, really loud.
I mean, really loud.
Hurry up! Get into class! Take your shoes off! Get on the mat! Hurry! And the kids said back loudly, okay! And the mom yelled, why are you yelling at me?
My mom and I just looked at each other and started laughing to ourselves.
Isn’t this a silly example of being a hypocrite?
It can be really easy to read this and say, wow, these Pharisees are pretty bad people.
But if you really think about it, we might do the same thing.
Today’s Saint of the Day is Saint Augustine.
He was born 354 and died August 28th, 430.
He’s a patron saint of theologians and brewers.
Augustine had a saintly mother, but that did not stop him from losing his faith.
Augustine ran away at a young age and made fun of Christians.
And he fell in love with a lady and without marrying her, had a son.
Resisting his mother’s pleadings, Augustine searched for the faith.
During the next few years, his studies led him back to Christianity.
His mother’s prayers helped him.
After Saint Augustine’s baptism, he returned to his hometown of Hippo and began living a monastic life of prayer and study.
Augustine considered himself unworthy of ministry, but the bishop of Hippo insisted on ordaining him first as a priest.
And then he eventually became a bishop.
He became a tireless proclaimer of Christ and furiously addressed the errors of his day with power and clarity that silenced his opponents.
When he was bishop, he wrote the autobiography.
Saint Augustine fell ill and died while praying the Psalms and to praise of God’s mercy.
When you see someone who is a hypocrite, we need to remember that we should show them grace and compassion just as God shows us grace.
We can pray for God’s love and forgiveness and help so we don’t end up like the Pharisees.
Augustine is considered the greatest doctor of the church and he is called the doctor of grace because his writings deepen our love for God’s grace.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear Jesus, help me to live my life truthfully and with honesty.
And help me to discover God’s grace in my life.
Saint Augustine, pray for us.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Thank you so much for listening.
We’ll be back tomorrow scattering more flowers.
See ya!