Seven woes against the Pharisees and scribes, Mt 23
Here we meditate on the first part of the chapter: Mt 23,1-12
Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and His disciples, saying: "The scribes and Pharisees sat on the seat of Moses. Therefore, do and keep all things that they say to you; but do not do according to their works, for they say and do not do. They tie up heavy and unbearable burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others, for they widen their phylacteries and lengthen the fringes of their cloaks. They are fond of the first place at suppers and the first seats in synagogues, and of being greeted in the marketplaces, and being surnamed by men "rabbi." But do not make yourselves to be called "rabbi", for one is your teacher, but you are all brothers; and among you call no one father on earth, for one is your Father, the heavenly one. Do not have them call you tutors, because your tutor is one, the Christ. The greatest of you will be your servant. He who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
^^Phylacteries: these were capsules with long strips of parchment on which some passages of the Pentateuch were written. The capsules were fixed on the forehead; the straps wrapped around the left arm. Stripes: they were fringes sewn to the four angles or points of the cloak.^^
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Philacteries... It is clear that the more hysteria there is to represent something, the more false the thing is. God has asked us to put His Law on our foreheads, that means that we have His Law in our heads as a light that guides us what to do and what not to do, but those people disguised themselves while teaching to betray the 4th Commandment.... But God doesn't like us to reduce His Words to a list of "do's and don'ts." That's almost like programming a computer... it is better to read His Word 15 minutes a day as Our Lady of the Roses, Mary Help of mothers commands so we learn little by little, at our own pace and enlightened by God we realize what to do. And we must learn from the beginning about Holy Tradition and be faithful to it, since that is the fidelity that the Church has always had towards God.
Rabbi is ^^a Jewish preacher and religious leader in Judaism. A person becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi^^ They were considered a sort of wise men in the things of God, like a sort of experts in the Law. To call someone Rabbi is similar to say “teacher” or “his excellence”
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Do you remember the last two passages before this one? How the scribe asked Jesus something to tempt Him and one possibility for having asked that question could be that the scribe wanted to test Jesus to make Him his friend. And since Jesus has the purest thoughts, it may be that, even though He knows all that is in the hearts of men, He considered thinking of the most innocent possibility: that the lawyer was testing Him about His konwlegde of the Old Testament. So then Jesus takes the initiative by testing the Pharisees with a question about Himself, as if to give them the possibility of making them His friends as well. But they fail, they were not in tune with God but with what Jesus is now going to expose in this chapter.
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As Jesus is the Source of Perfection, He makes everything very clear to us. He wouldn't want the people who followed Him to be confused and think that, since He asked the Pharisees a question, that He would want them as friends. So, in front of everyone, disciples and crowds (groups of unorganized people), He reproaches the Pharisees for their worst sins. And He gives them seven woes, which is like saying to them: "I am sorry for you, how bad you are and how bad you will end". Seven is a number that means "completeness."
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The first thing He describes about the Pharisees is that they sat on the seat of Moses (God had not placed Pharisees in the organization of His people, but the priests were to teach people how to keep the law). And He tells us that we must obey them in what they say and not what they do. From this it follows that there should be no catechists in the Church but that priests, who studied a lot of theology, as it should be, should be the ones who give catechesis for all the sacraments. They must work in the service of God the 12 hours that Jesus says in the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John.
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Obey that riffraff? Yes. We must always OBEY WHAT IS NOT SIN. THAT WHICH DOES NOT GO AGAINST THE HOLY TRADITION OF THE CHURCH. The virtue of obedience is most pleasing to God.
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At the end I copy the life of a great one of God, a blessed who fulfilled obedience to the extreme, to the limit of his strength and God worked miracles through him (and it is that he also made the virtue of purity, charity, humility, detachment… flourish and bear fruit...) he is Blessed Sebastián de Aparicio. Blessed Sebastián de Aparicio is a great example of what a Saint once said: He (God) that requests something (by one of His delegates on Earth) gives all the necessary to get the job done.
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A Pope (I don't remember his name) once gave the following advice: when we have an inspiration of something we have to do and we don't know if it comes from God or from a deceitful spirit to annoy us... We always have to obey (unless it's sin). Because it is better to make the effort to do something to fulfill obedience than to make the terrible mistake that it was on God's part and not obey.
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St. John Bosco gave us a tremendous example of obedience when he was on his deathbed, he had an apparition that told him that he had not written enough about such a virtue (I don't remember which one) and it turns out that he had written enough about that virtue, and he was not in a position to write anything. But to one of his disciples he dictated the general lines to make a little book about that virtue. He did not look for excuses, but how to obey. That is great, not to look for excuses at the first time but to ask the guardian angel or directly the Holy Spirit to enlighten and guide us: "how do I obey this without disobeying God in the least?" and if after a good time we see that there is no way to obey because we would disobey a command from God or the Blessed Virgin, let us ask again for light to disobey without having problems.
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EVERYTHING THAT GOES AGAINST HOLY TRADITION IS A SIN, AS IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN. THE WICKED ONES WANT TO MAKE A SINFUL, FALSE CHURCH, OPPOSED TO WHAT IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN AND MUST NO BE OBEYED.
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Those scribes and Pharisees who had sat on the seat of Moses would think that then they could legislate whatever they wanted, but NOBODY CAN EVER CHANGE WHAT GOD SAID THROUGH HIS OWN IN THE PAST.
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And these are good pieces of advice: if you are told at school or even in a university (which is already happening that in a university in the USA: they show pornography to the students) "look at the pornography that we are going to project" you should close your eyes and if you are asked why, say "BECAUSE I DO NOT WANT, AND NO IS NO", and you, like all those who refuse something sexual, you must be respected. Do not look at that filth neither out of the corner of your eye, because it is garbage that stains the soul and, then, if we are not confessed so that Jesus cleanses us with His Most Precious Blood, the demons see those stains and enter through them into us.
Or if a girl is told to dress like a boy, or vice versa: a boy is told to dress like a girl, they should say: "I don't want to. No is no." If they tell you to touch your body to have sensations (nonsense of electricity that the body produces, those ones who tried everything say that eating a chocolate gives them the same or more pleasure than sexual crap, so better take a cold shower and eat a chocolate and you will be much better, and with a clean soul)
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We have an example in Saint Therese, the little flower (the French Therese, Doctor of Catholic Church) of how to disobey without having problems:
She use to write letters to a good priest who was like her spiritual confessor and it occurred to the mother superior that from a certain day, she, the superior, was going to read all the letters that left or arrived at the convent. St. Therese knew that the superior had no right to do so, but she could not disobey, so she decided that from that day on she would no longer write letters. And she says that she turned to the Master of teachers (Jesus Christ) to be her Spiritual Director. And she grew spiritually even more.
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But when she was in charge of the keys to the sacristy because she was in charge of arranging flowers in the church and had to return the keys to the superior... one day the superior was in bed sick and sleeping, or something like that, and the nun who took care of her asked St. Therese to leave her the keys. She knew that she could not give them to her since that nun was no one to receive those keys so she tried to enter and the nun prevented her. They made so much noise that the sick woman woke up and the other nun began to accuse Saint Therese of everything, she took the opportunity to enter and put the keys in the hands of the superior. She kissed the ground as if she were to blame for everything and left very happy with that victory.
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You have to obey parents and teachers and superiors. Obey everything as long as it is not sin. Obey when you don't feel like it or when it seems stupid. Waste that time. Obey immediately. And you're going to see how God manifests Himself in your lives.
Jesus says: “among you, do not tell father to anyone”. We can tell the Pope and priests “Father” because that title comes from God, Who is Father of all men. The Pope, bishops and priests are spiritual Fathers because they represent God on Earth. And, of course, we can call “father” to our father because he was put on our life to represent the authority of God in our lives.
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In this first part of “the 7 woes against the Pharisees and scribes” we see Jesus saying to us: obey... And He ends by telling us "whoever humbles himself will be exalted", (he who obeys humbles himself). He gives us a token from heaven to help us obey when it costs us.
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Children are so loved by God because, among other things, they like the truth, they have no choice but to obey, they love their parents, and they have pure minds because they have not been clouded by the filth of the world, which gave itself to the unclean beast: the devil. So always keep yourselves that way, as much as possible do not watch TV, always seek the good of all and, first of all: always obey GOD.
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We adults have to work a lot to enter Heaven, which is earned "very hard," says St. Therese, the little flower in the Messages of Our Lady of the Roses. Jesus Christ, in Mt 18:3, tells us: "... Truly I say to you, unless you turn and do as little children do, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."
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In the biography of Blessed Sebastian de Aparicio we have a very holy example of obedience:
^^Sebastián de Aparicio, Blessed
Franciscan religious, February 25
By: Juan Escobar, o.f.m. | Source: Franciscanos.org
Roman Martyrology: In Puebla de los Angeles, in Mexico, Blessed Sebastian Aparicio, who, being a shepherd of sheep, passed from Spain to Mexico, where he gathered with his work a remarkable fortune with which he helped the poor and, having been widowed twice, was received as a brother in the Order of Friars Minor, in which he died almost a hundred years old (1600).
Etymologically: Sebastian = He who is worthy of respect, is of Greek origin,
Date of beatification: May 17, 1789 by Pope Pius VI.
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Short Biography
In the year 1533, a young man named Sebastián, who had been born on January 20, 1502 in the town of Gudiña, in the province of Orense (Spain), arrived on the Mexican beaches, confused among the many travelers. His childhood was spent with his parents, Juan de Aparicio and Teresa del Prado, both old-school Christians, charitable and of noble habits; His youth and part of his youth were spent in the middle of the countryside, devoted to agricultural work to earn a daily sustenance and gather enough dowry for his two sisters. Salamanca, Zafra de Extremadura and Sanlúcar de Barrameda saw Sebastián work hard and were able to admire his great virtues – despite his young years – among which his simplicity, rectitude of heart and his love of chastity stood out.
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From the old Veracruz where Sebastian landed, he went to the city of La Puebla, recently founded by the Franciscan friar Toribio de Benavente, better known by the nickname of Motolinía. The large tracts of vacant land and the security that the Royal Court gave to all the Spaniards who wanted to reside in the city, attracted Sebastian and induced him to dedicate himself to farming. Endowed, however, with an uncommon natural wit and a view of vast horizons, Sebastian conceived the idea of adapting the road from Mexico to Vera Cruz so that the carts that he soon built with a Spanish friend of his would pass through it. Those carts were the first that, pulled by bulls or steers tamed by Sebastian himself, trod the soil of Mexico. With this work he solved two fundamental problems: first, the difficult transport of goods, and the second, relieving the indigenous people of the fatigue they suffered from having to carry everything on their burnt backs.
After a few years, Sebastian went again to the Royal Audience of Mexico to ask permission to open a new path that would bring prosperity and progress to all. He proposed nothing less than to open a road that would go from the Mexican capital to Zacatecas, which was beginning to flow silver from its entrails. Today it is admirable Sebastian's titanic work for its vast and grandiose proportions: he had to level hollows, surround mountains, build wooden bridges, bring provisions for his workers and, above all, achieve friendship with the Chichimeca tribes, sadly famous for their ferocity and cannibalism. In the face of this work of giants and saints, Sebastian did not shrink. His mind and heart aspired to greater things and in a few years he saw the work that would immortalize him forever finished. His cart crews traveled those very long distances without being disturbed by the Chichimecas, who, seeing the meekness and charity with which Sebastian treated them, loved him, protected him, and never did him any harm. Those same crews also became a safe refuge for passengers and thanks also to Sebastián's efforts the small towns increased considerably, such as the city of Querétaro.
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For about eighteen years Sebastian had given the best of his strength to open roads and promote trade in Mexico; but in 1552 he decided to leave his trade, which had brought him large profits, and bought some land on the outskirts of the Mexican capital, between Atzcapotzalco and Tlanepantla. His new projects were beneficial for everyone, since his fields were a practical school where the Indians learned to farm; his home became a safe haven where not only the poor and needy found refuge, but also daily bread and advice to love life and work again, and where they could learn the Christian virtues that Sebastian never stopped exercising. Among these virtues stood out his ardent love for the Blessed Sacrament and for the Virgin Mary, whose rosary he did not omit in all the days of his life.
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The riches that Sebastian had honestly and justly acquired attracted the greedy eyes of several of his neighbors to persuade him to marry. The propositions could not be but advantageous; and yet Sebastian constantly rejected them, until one day he himself resolved to marry a poor young woman, but of very noble virtues. It was the year 1562. Sebastian behaved to his wife in public as her husband, but in private he persuaded her to keep her virginity. At the time of rest, she slept in bed and he spread a mat on the floor, where he lay down. A year had barely passed and Sebastian found himself a widower. Two years later, moved by his charity to favor another poor young woman, named María Esteban, he married her, without changing his old way of sleeping on the floor and mortifying himself as much as he could. In spite of the tenor of life that Sebastian led, he did not lack difficulties and trials that he endured as a Christian. An illness that put him at one foot of the tomb and the unexpected death of his second wife were the gales that shook that strong tree to its roots, which, detaching himself more and more from earthly goods, began to meditate with himself in what way he would serve the Lord more perfectly and attain his eternal salvation with fewer dangers.
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He spent some time working in his fields, until, guided by the advice of his confessor, he resolved to leave everything. He sold his goods, gave the price to the nuns of Santa Clara de México, took the habit of a Franciscan donor and began to serve the same nuns as a stable hand. He was already seventy-one years old at the time. Divine grace continued to gently move that heart that had belonged to him since he was a child and sent him to the convent of San Francisco de México, where he took the habit and, despite the immense difficulties he encountered in his resolution, he professed on June 13, 1575.
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During that year of recollection, prayer and mortification, Fr. Sebastian meditated on the virtues of St. Francis: his obedience, his poverty, his love for the Passion of the Lord, his love for all things because they are creatures of God, and with better wings he raised his soul to an ever more perfect surrender in the hands of the Mother of God, whose rosary he always carried with him and devoutly recited several times a day. Barely two months after his profession, obedience sent him to the convent of Tecali, where there was a need for a brother to take care of the kitchen, porter's lodge and small vegetable garden. The religious admired the virtue of the humble lay brother, who attended to all the necessities of the convent with joy and promptness; but he was in that place for a short time, as he received new orders to move to the convent of The Wounds of Our Seraphic Father San Francisco in Puebla of the Angeles. He set out at once with the same joy and contentment that he had manifested, and he was entrusted with an otherwise painful and hard office, considering his advanced age: that of almoner. With his usual cheerful obedience he took upon himself the new office. He had to travel through the extensive countryside of Puebla in search of food and other provisions, which would be the sustenance of more than a hundred religious who lived in that convent.
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He begged for alms some bulls and built carts, which were his inseparable companions until the last days of his life. The farmers of the surrounding villages had occasion to admire his patience, mortification, charity, and detachment from all things. He threw his old cloak on the ground and slept under the carts without caring whether it rained, was cold or snowed. In addition to this, he added painful penances to keep the "brother ass" who soon and docile obeyed him in the service of the Lord. In the city of Puebla he stealthily and charitably distributed alms to shameful families and the convent never noticed the lack of what was necessary. Fr. Sebastian's simplicity became proverbial. This was nothing but the precious fruit of his love for God and of his immediate obedience to the orders of his superiors. Such simplicity of heart opened a new path for him on the path of holiness. He saw everything through his "faith of steel", as he used to repeat, and his concern was "not to lose sight of God". For the love of God he carried out even the smallest acts of his religious life and God rewarded him with unheard-of favors.
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On one occasion the guardian father ordered him to go and bring wood from the mountain of La Malinche, about 25 kilometers from the city of Puebla. When he had already loaded the wagon, the axle of a wheel broke. Fray Sebastián did not hesitate to set out on the road in these disastrous conditions. As soon as he had arrived at the convent and was about to assemble the cart, Father Guardian ordered him to go to Tepeaca, some 36 kilometers away, to bring some alms. The friar obeyed at once. He took his cart, which in fact had only one wheel, and so he went and returned without regretting anything. To fulfill obedience, God worked the miracle that the cart loaded with firewood and Fr. Sebastian himself flew over the ravine of Quautzazaloyan (today: Barranca de los Pilares), obstructed at that time by other broken carts.
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He had a great mastery over bulls and untamed animals. One day, the superior ordered him to carry stone from the river – which passes near the convent – on a mule that no one had been able to tame, but not even to approach it. Fray Sebastián went to the brute animal and told him that it was necessary to work. The once wild and rude mule meekly submitted to the friar's words. Another time he came from Atlixco to Puebla and spent the night in a place where there were swarms of ants. It happened that during the night they took away the wheat he was bringing. The next day, when Fr. Sebastian noticed the loss of the wheat, he ordered the ants to return it, which they immediately complied with.
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The farmers sought him out to ward off the storms or to put an end to the plagues that plagued their crops, which he always did out of his great charity. His rope became famous in many places. At the touch of it, the sick were healed and women in difficult childbirth gave birth happily. One of the oldest biographers of Blessed Sebastian calls it the "cure-for-everything" or universal medicine. We cannot but mention the miracle which God wrought through His servant. It happened that a fourteen-month-old boy, the son of some benefactors of the convent, based in Huejotzingo, got under a cart pulled by brave bulls. Frightened, they started and the heavy wheel passed over the child, burying him in the ground. Shortly afterwards Fr. Sebastian arrived and the parents of the child presented him dead, begging him to do something for them. The friar prayed to God and the child rose again because of their supplications.
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After twenty-four years of serving the convent as an almoner, Fr. Sebastian heard the voice of God inviting him to rest in His kingdom. That call arrived on February 20, 1600 when he was attacked by severe pain from the hernia that tormented him for many years. Five days later, lying on the ground on a blanket, he waited for "Sister Bodily Death" with all the joy of his spirit. At eight o'clock in the evening of the 25th he gave his spirit into the hands of the Lord.
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As soon as he died, the prodigies multiplied and it is a constant fame that today they still do not cease. His body remained incorrupt and gave off an exquisite aroma, which is still perceived in our times from time to time.
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The fame of his virtues and miracles reached Rome and Pope Pius VI declared him Blessed on May 17, 1789, granting at the same time office and mass to the Franciscan Order.
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The years have flown by, but the fame of the Puebla miracle worker continues to increase and his cult spreads throughout the Mexican Republic and beyond. The drivers of all kinds of vehicles regard Blessed Sebastian as a heavenly patron. We hope that the day is not far off when immortal Rome will inscribe in the catalogue of saints the "friar carter," who worked like few others in Mexico, and gave proof of unsettling virtues and luster to the Order of St. Francis of Assisi.
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source: Año Cristiano (Christian Year), Volume I
Blessed Sebastián de Aparicio
Author: Juan Escobar, OFM
Madrid, Ed. Católica
(BAC 182), 1959, pp. 433-438^^
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[Here we see that Blessed Sebastián de Aparicio is put in front of his name the initials "Fr.", Fr. = Friar, I found this in Wikipedia:
^^Not to be confused with monk.
The term friar (from the Latin frater, 'brother') is the name used in the Catholic Church to refer to the members of the mendicant religious orders, born from the thirteenth century, who preach the renunciation of material wealth and apostolic and evangelizing action.
The meaning of brother implies the existence of fraternal relations among the members of the community. It is common to use the apocope "fray" before proper names (such as 'Fray Bartolomé de las Casas') in Augustinians, Capuchins, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, Mercedarians, Servites and in the Comunità dei Frati Missionari di Cristo Povero.
A friar differs from a monk in two aspects:
• The ministry and apostolate of a friar leads him to work for the Kingdom of God outside the convent or hermitage, while, traditionally, the monk does not leave his monastery, where he dedicates himself to prayer and internal labors.
• The friar is usually moved according to the needs of the superiors, while the monk is identified with his monastery^^