Tuesday 25 August 2026
St Louis IX; St Joseph Calasanz
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, 14-17. The Lord comes to judge the earth – Ps 95(96):10-13. Matthew 23:23-26.
Hold fast to the deeper values
The motto of my old Catholic high school was ‘hold fast to traditions’. I’m not sure I’ve seen the line in context before seeing it in today’s first reading. To me, it pointed to the value of the older things that were passed down to us. However, it also evoked – perhaps unfairly – an image of a dusty old institution with its doors closed to the wider world.
Our Gospel reading today highlights the tradition as it’s meant to be understood. Jesus criticises the Pharisees for upholding what they think is important in the older ways, when they are in fact neglecting those traditions that are the most important – judgement (or ‘justice’), mercy and fidelity (or perhaps ‘truth’). If the traditions an institution seeks to ‘hold fast to’ are those deeper values, then it can confidently open its doors to the world knowing it has nothing to fear.
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