Every Catholic Man - Sunday Gospel Bible Study
Learn more about how a man can grow in happiness at EveryCatholicMan.com, including daily Gospel devotions from the Mass for every day of the year. The EveryCatholicMan.com podcast can help a man draw closer to Jesus Christ, learn the Catholic faith and grow in happiness by becoming a better Catholic Son and Catholic Father. In every episode, a man can hear the Gospel reading from the Holy Catholic Mass, hear what Jesus is accomplishing, discover what can lead a man to be more awed by Jesus Christ, grow in happiness, learn from the Catechism, and take action to practice what Jesus and the Catholic Church is teaching in the Gospel. Matthew James Christoff is a Catholic convert and evangelist of Catholic men. Matthew's extensive work to help Catholic men draw closer to Jesus Christ and grow in happiness can be found at EveryCathoilcMan.com. At EveryCatholicMan.com can find daily Gospel devotions from the Mass for every day of the year and a comprehensive set of tools that can help a man grow in holiness and happiness. Matthew is a co-founder of the Catholic Men's Leadership Alliance and HeroicMen.com, the founder of the New Evangelization Project and CatholicManNight.com, and is featured in the Knights of Columbus Into the Breach Video Series. Matthew's professional career includes being a strategy consultant for Fortune 50 companies and a brand manager in a major consumer products company. Matthew has a Masters in Theology from the Augustine Institute, a Masters in Business and a Civil Engineering degree from Purdue University. Matthew is married to his childhood sweetheart, has four married adult children and grandchildren.
Every Catholic Man - Sunday Gospel Bible Study
Episode 100 - Jesus denounces the Pharisees in the Temple for their pride and attention-seeking - Sunday November 5, 2023 - Mt 23:1-12
Jesus denounces the Pharisees in the Temple for their pride and attention-seeking. Every Catholic man can grow in happiness by seeking the Gift of Counsel from the Holy Spirit so he can remain ever obedient to Christ's holy priesthood and by growing in the Virtue of Humility so he can reject pride and more fully submit to God's Will.
After tolerating, but completely rebuking, the repeated attacks by the Sadducees, Pharisees and scribes, Jesus enters the Temple and publicly warns that they are dangerous and should not be followed. He begins by reasserting the importance of authority, pointing to the chair of Moses as the current authoritative teaching; in the New Covenant, Jesus, the Son of God and Divine King, is the exclusive authority and He grants authority to rule for Him on earth by establishing the Chair of Peter (the papacy) to lead His Holy Catholic Church.
Jesus denounces the Jewish religious leadership with several criticisms: they put excessive religious burdens on the faithful; they do not practice what they preach; they practice conspicuous piety; they pridefully seek attention and honor. Jesus tells His disciples to avoid the Jewish leadership’s core sin of pride and to embrace humility: "Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Mt 23:10-12).”
Some people falsely use Jesus’ “call no man father” to argue against Jesus’ exclusive selection of men for the Catholic priesthood and the tradition of addressing priests as “father.” Jesus uses hyperbole (exaggeration) to denounce the hypocritical Pharisee's prideful quest for honorific titles; Jesus certainly doesn’t intend for children not to call their own biological father, “father”, or to not call a religious teacher, “rabbi”. The Apostles understood Jesus’ words, “call no man father”, as hyperbole; they used “father” as a title for spiritual fatherhood (Peter, John and Paul all did this in the Epistles) and eventually the title, “father”, became routinely used for priests.
Be awed by Jesus Christ
While the many in the modern world are brutally enforcing new “speech codes” to excuse sin and to censor and punish men who speak the truth, be inspired by how Jesus Christ, with His powerful Voice and penetrating Gaze, demonstrates the virtue of physical and mental Courage (a part of Fortitude) by bluntly Condemning the sinful behaviors of the Jewish religious leaders, right to their faces, despite their attempts to censor Him and His full knowledge of their plans to trap and murder Him.
Remain ever obedient to the priesthood
Realize: Just as Jesus condemned the sins of the Jewish leadership but urged His disciples to remain obedient, Jesus abhors the heresy and horrific sins of some in His priesthood but commands Catholic men to remain obedient to the priesthood He established.
Believe: Reflect upon the Sacrament of Holy Orders (CCC 1536-1600).
Pray: Holy Spirit, give me the Gift of Counsel so I can be protected against evil and heresy and be led to follow the many holy and heroic Catholic priests Jesus has ordained.
Reject pride and grow in humility
Realize: While the modern culture rewards those who pridefully draw attention to themselves, often because of outrageous and perverted acts, Jesus condemns the vice of Pride by the Pharisees because it is evil and always leads men to sin against God and others; the Church has always warned men that pride is one of the 7 Deadly Sins and a root sin which leads to many other sins.
Believe: Reflect upon the Virtue of Humility (CCC 299, 1450, 2219, 2540, 2546, 2554, 2559, 2631, 2713, 2753, 2779).
Pray: Almighty Father, help me build the Virtue of Humility (a part of Temperance) so I can recognize my spiritual poverty, better listen to and respect others, and seek to be completely dependent on Your grace to save and preserve me.