The Pharisees and Sadducees believed having Abraham as their father would guarantee salvation. A personal responsibility in dealing with their flawed nature was not that important (Mt.3/8-9). We too may think that by our external religious observances, we are perfect and pleasing to God. We may believe that our broken nature is not something to be worried about.

The Lord invites us into deeper dimensions. The serious consequences of killing, bringing mayhem and chaos into the world, affecting all humanity, needs to be dwelt with at a deeper level. The cause is our human nature, that is broken and distorted. Everyone bears a personal responsibility for the sad state of the world. Anger, pride and jealousy are capable of destroying families and communities.

As the saying goes ‘ the greatest battles originate in the mind, but manifest on the battlefields’. The Lord brings attention to our personal twisted and flawed nature.

In the first reading the aspect of personal responsibility is brought out. Having lived an evil life all our days, but in the end living a virtuous life in repentance, guarantees salvation. Likewise, one who has lived a very virtuous life all one’s days, but in the end chooses a sinful life, his virtuous life counts for nothing for salvation. Ancestral sin need not make one a prisoner of circumstances. Conversely, ancestral holiness may not necessarily guarantee one to inherit such holiness.

Everyone carries a flawed nature. Ultimately it’s a matter of personal responsibility in dealing with our camouflaged twisted nature. Only one who has not such a nature could save us. The Lord invites us to come as we are, since He is that perfect One. He loves us and draws us into His Holiness, our naked unholiness is revealed, even to the extent of shocking embarrassment. In tender love He cleanses us in His blood. Giving us the Holy Spirit, He gives us His own nature with no blemish, flaw or darkness. We become a transfigured being within a vessel of clay.

Prayer: Abba Father, heal my mind, heal my soul, wash my wounds and make me whole. Amen