Gospel (Mt 23,13-22) - At that time, Jesus spoke saying: «Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who close the kingdom of heaven before people; in fact you don't enter, and you don't even let in those who want to enter. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who travel the sea and the land to make just one proselyte and, when he has become one, you make him twice as worthy of Gehenna as you are. Woe to you, blind guides, who say: “If anyone swears by the temple, he counts for nothing; but if someone swears by the gold of the temple, he remains obliged." Fools and blind! Which is greater: gold or the temple that makes gold sacred? And say again: “If anyone swears by the altar, he counts for nothing; but if someone swears by the offering that is on it, he remains obliged." Blind! Which is greater: the offering or the altar that makes the offering sacred? Well, whoever swears by the altar, swears by the altar and by everything on it; and whoever swears by the temple, swears by the temple and by Him who inhabits it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits there."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

This evangelical page, which is part of Jesus' last speeches before his passion, reports some invectives against the scribes and Pharisees. What does it mean that Jesus "rants" at someone? These are not words aimed at people, but against their attitudes. The severity of the warning is part of pastoral action. "Woe to you", therefore, is not first and foremost a threat, it is rather a warning not to persevere in error. We could translate: “Be careful how you live!”. Jesus speaks harsh words to those who believe they are righteous in the hope of helping them finally see and hear those who need help and support. «Woe to you» is the last attempt to make aware those who mistrust, those who close themselves off, those who think that evil is in others, not in themselves too. We should all take these warnings from Jesus seriously and understand them as an extreme attempt to make us come back to ourselves! And we must also make these severe warnings from Jesus reach the hearts of those who believe they are right, in order, thinking they have clean hands even if, like whitewashed tombs, they hide death inside. Jesus wants us to be free from evil. Only a strong and passionate love knows how to recognize evil and is capable of dispelling it so that we can set out on the path of the Gospel.