Tuesday 2nd Week of Lent
Malta Evening of Recollection
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen
March 18, 2025
Corruptio optimi pessima
An old saying runs like this: “corruptio optimi pessima”, which means “The corruption of the best is worst of all.” The better something is, the more distressing and destructive is its corruption. This we know from experience, in the Church and beyond the Church.
In the Gospel, Jesus denounced the Scribes and Pharisees because they corrupted something exceedingly precious: the Law of Moses; and in the process, they hardened their hearts against him. The Pharisees were hypocrites who taught one thing and did another. The Pharisees were religious tyrants who laid heavy burdens on others, burdens they were unwilling to bear. The Pharisees did not practice religion for the glory of God but rather for their self-serving purposes. This is what Pope Francis called, “worldly religiosity”.
Pope Francis often warns bishops and priests against worldly religiosity. And you, the members of the laity, can tell when a priest or bishop is a fellow pilgrim with you on the road to holiness … when a priest or bishop is sincerely striving to follow the Lord … as opposed to his being a hired hand, a hypocrite, or a tyrant. Not for nothing do we, your priests, pray daily for humility and forgiveness.
But in this matter, there is a goose and gander rule at work too. The Lord’s warning applies to all his disciples in every walk of life. Religion is neither for show, nor is it a weapon to be used against others; nor is it a stage on which to peddle our opinions and manifest our importance. True religion is being like Christ, “meek and humble of heart”.
Christ the One Teacher
The Pharisees managed to undermine the Law and Prophets by bad example, but they also sought to undermine Christ Jesus who was sent into the world by the Father to fulfill the Law and Prophets. They perceived him as a threat to their position and their authority, for as we read elsewhere, ‘Jesus taught with authority, not like the Scribes and Pharisees.’ After all, Jesus did not merely proclaim the Word of God, he was and is the Word made flesh who dwells among us. Christ is thus a teacher like no other, indeed the One Teacher. It is for the rest of us to follow him and to share in his life and teachings. And the more open our hearts and minds are, the deeply we will participate in the truth and love of Christ our Teacher. Following Christ, we are led to the One who is God and Father of all.
Purifying Our Religious Practice
Lent is about setting things aright, as we read in Isaiah the prophet. It’s about purifying ourselves of every trace of false religiosity, every resistance to the truth as it comes to us from the lips of the Savior and through the authentic teaching of the Church. Lent is about acquiring the humility of Christ, who emptied himself of glory and offered himself on the Cross for the forgiveness of our sins.
Let us pray, fast, and give alms so as to invite the Lord into the depth of our hearts, there to purify us, to illuminate us, to make our hearts resemble his own, and thus to enable us to bear witness to him by our lives. May God bless us and keep us always in his love.