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The Love that Compels

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Daily Reflections

Daily Scripture, August 26, 2025

Scripture:

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 23:23-26

Reflection:

“You have searched me and you know me, Lord.” This is today’s psalm response.

I want to edit it. “You have searched me and you know me, Lord, and yet you still love me.” For good reason, many of us are terrified of allowing others to see the full truth of who we are. We have scars. We have disordered affections. We have petty desires. We have disappointments and insecurities. We believe that if others really knew us, they could not possibly love us. Yet that is exactly what Jesus Christ does. We are sinners, we are broken and flawed…yet we are loved.

We don’t often hear in the gospels about Jesus getting in the faces of others, but he let’s loose in today’s gospel: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.” The expression of faith begins within our hearts not in liturgical rubrics or pious devotions. Those cannot replace what is in our hearts, they should express what in our hearts.

All around us there are plenty of self-proclaiming Christians who are, in the words of my father, simply “crude.” He loved that word to describe behavior that was cruel and rude. It is jarring to hear some, wearing a gold cross around their necks, proceed to demean others with crude nicknames or calling them losers. Where is the connection between the inside and the outside? How does God’s love revealed in the Passion of Christ and proclaimed in the cross around my neck lead me to love others, even the sinner?

We are not spared from Jesus getting in our faces. Woe to you, politicians… Woe to you, church leaders… Woe to you… Woe to me, hypocrite. Cleanse first the inside so that our care for others may be clean. We are sinners yet loved. Broken yet redeemed. In that experience of being loved and redeemed, let us love and raise others up.

Robert Hotz is a consultant with American City Bureau, Inc. and was the Director of The Passion of Christ: The Love That Compels Campaign for Holy Cross Province.

Daily Scripture, September 1, 2008

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 Luke 4:16-30 Reflection: Have you ever noticed that when you hear something over and over again you tend to stop listening and not hear it?  Frequently » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, September 2, 2008

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:10b-16 Luke 4:31-37 Reflection: In this season of feverish political activity we daily view candidates for office seeking dramatic ways to communicate their ‘platform’.  They compete for » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 31, 2008

Scripture: Jeremiah 20:7-9 Romans 12:1-2 Matthew 16:21-27 Reflection: All of our Scripture readings for today speak to us about how we as Christians are to follow God’s ways and not » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 29, 2008

Memorial of the Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:17-25 Psalms 33:1-2, 4-5, 10-11 Mark 6:17-29 Reflection: The story of the martyrdom of John the Baptist as » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 28, 2008

The Feast of St. Augustine Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 Matthew 24:42-51 Reflection: Matthew’s Gospel boldly proclaims the words of Jesus:  "Stay awake!  For you do not know on which day » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 27, 2008

The Feast of St. Monica Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10, 16-18 Matthew 23:27-32 Reflection: Readers of the daily Scriptures have another "woe" to contemplate today.  This is the sixth of seven » Continue Reading.

Daily Reflection, August 7, 2008

Scripture: Jeremiah 31: 31-34 Matthew 16:13-23 Reflection: The first reading speaks of great changes coming to Israel’s people, changes that will come from God and will be established in a » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 26, 2008

Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3a, 14-17 Matthew 23:23-26 Reflection:  In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus continues His denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees. In the first part of our passage (Matthew 23:23-24), » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 25, 2008

Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11-12 Matthew 23:13-22 Reflection: This is one of the longest and harshest passages by Jesus in the Gospels directed against the Pharisees.  They impose heavy burdens » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 24, 2008

Scripture: Isaiah 22:19-23 Romans 11:33-36 Matthew 16:13-20 Reflection: So many strange and wonderful Biblical events take place on the mountains, above the ordinary plane of human endeavor.  The Scriptures often » Continue Reading.

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