Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 26, 2025
Jesus said:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!
“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.”
Growing up, we were never quite properly dressed for church. It was a herculean effort to get six young kids to church on Sunday, and my mom did it every week. It was completely understandable if the outside of us was not quite clean. We would almost always show up with shoes, but sometimes not the same shoes, and sometimes on the wrong feet. The rest of the outfit was a mismatch. But we always showed up.
Funny, as I think about this passage, I cannot remember a single outfit that my mom wore. But I remember how she carried herself, and “clean on the inside” is a perfect description. Mom sat in the pew with a confidence built on faith and a knowledge that she lived her life in service of others, with mercy and fidelity. Her compassion and empathy for others were a constant example to us kids, and we never really appreciated it.
Now, I am all grown up and have lived past my own years of getting kids to put their shoes on the correct feet; I do not have that feeling I saw in my mother. I am dressed a little better at church (and the shoes match). But maybe I am not quite as “clean on the inside.” So this parable hits home. I may not be full of plunder, but there might be a little self-indulgence there.
I probably need a trip to confession to get “clean on the inside.” And I definitely need to call my mom.
Prayer
Lord God, your Son walked among us flawed human beings. He loved the poor, the sick, and the widowed. He delighted in little children. He sat at table with men and women who were sinners and called them to new life. Only hypocrisy raised anger in Jesus. Open our eyes and hearts to see ourselves as we are and to cast ourselves upon your mercy rather than to cover our shame with lying to ourselves and to those around us. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Our Lady of Czestochowa is an image of Mary located in Poland. The icon is also known as the Black Madonna because the image has darkened from the soot of so many votive candles burning near it. Czestochowa is one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Poland—many people visit the shrine to venerate Mary in this icon.
Tradition holds that the icon was painted by St. Luke upon wood that had been part of the table in the home of the Holy Family. It is said that the image was kept in royal palaces in Constantinople and Ukraine after St. Helen found it in Jerusalem. It came to Czestochowa in 1382 by way of a nobleman who was escaping an attack in Ukraine—he stopped to rest in the town and entrusted it to a monastery there.
In 1430, robbers looted the monastery and stole the image. In trying to remove precious stones from the icon, they smashed the wood and made slashes in the paint. When the icon was restored, the artists retained the slashes that were made on Mary’s face.
In the image, Mary’s hand points to Jesus, as she did with her whole life. Jesus holds a book of the Gospels in one hand and extends the other to the viewer in a blessing.
The image is associated with a miracle that marked a turning point in a war between Poland and Sweden in 1655. Monks and other people in the monastery were severely outnumbered by the invading Swedish forces but managed to repel the attackers with the miraculous intervention of Mary.
The image also played a large role in the devotional life of the young St. Maximilian Kolbe; he experienced a moment of conversion as a boy when he was praying in front of this image, and the experience shaped the rest of his life.
A replica of the Our Lady of Czestochowa image stands in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, and it faithfully reproduces even the slash marks on Mary’s face. The image was a gift to Father Edward Sorin, C.S.C., founder of Notre Dame, from the Polish Carmelite Sisters in the Shrine of St. Bridget in Rome. The sisters gave it to Father Sorin, who was superior general of the Congregation of Holy Cross at the time, “as a sign of perpetual friendship.”
Our Lady of Czestochowa, you are captured in the miraculous image of Mary venerated by Polish people—pray for us!
Personalize and share a prayer card with this image of Our Lady of Czestochowa at our prayer card page.