A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him in his house. But instead of the usual table conversation, Jesus attacks the hypocritical practices of the Pharisees. The Pharisees tended to focus on the external acts and rituals of their spirituality and forget about the more important part of living their faith daily. Jesus reminds them that it’s more important to show God’s love, compassion, mercy and justice to others, instead of just being self-righteous and doing rituals perfunctorily.

Do we really live our faith or do we just pay lip service to what we believe in? Do we look at our faith as just a series of obligations and rituals that we need to fulfill like attending Sunday Mass, or is our faith something alive that gives meaning to our life? Genuine love of God should move us to grow deeper in our relationship with our Creator and prompt us to bring the Good News and share God’s love to other people.

A real, living faith shouldn’t just be a private matter that only involves ourselves. Our faith should move us, not only to love God and ourselves, but to also reach out of concern to others, especially those who are disadvantaged.