IDENTIFYING FALSE PREACHERS
Meditation for Thursday of 11th Week in Ordinary Time
(2 Cor 11:1-11; Mt 6:7-15)
Often times, fake products appear
more appealing and affordable than the original. We easily fall for lies than
truth because they taste sweeter and easier to accept. Fake prophets and those
who teach and practice wrong doctrines gather more crowd than good shepherds of
Christ. “For I have come in my Father’s name and you do not accept me. If another
comes in his own name, you will accept him” (Jn 5:43). This was the issue St
Paul faced in the first reading of today. He marveled how the people he
evangelized allowed themselves to be deceived by false preachers, who took advantage
of them and made gains from their pockets. St Paul preached and worked among
them without demanding anything from them, instead his needs were supplied by
the brethren from Macedonia. But they people abandoned the gospel truth and the
example he taught them and followed the false and easy ways of those who deprived
them, burdened them and deceived them with false doctrines.
From the Gospel of today, we
learn also that a false preacher can be identified by his way of praying, “For
they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them,
for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Jesus the Good
Shepherd then taught us to pray the ‘Our Father’, which shows us how a true believer
places God, His Kingdom and will over and above everything, and looks upon Him
to receive his daily bread, forgiveness of sins and deliverance from evil. Let us
be true in our worship and practice of our faith so that we would not fall prey
to false preachers who distract us from the Kingdom of God.
Our help is in the name of the
Lord; who made heaven and earth! Amen.
Fr
Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints
Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo,
Ojo, Lagos.
Thursday
June 16th, 2021.
www.soundofsilence.ng
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com
