Mass Readings and Reflection for Tuesday, August 25th, 2026

First Reading: (2 Thessalonians 2:1–3, 14–17)

Responsorial Psalm: (Psalm 96)

Response:
The Lord comes to judge the earth.

Gospel: (Matthew 23:23–26)

Reflection:

False teachers weren't just a phenomenon in Jesus's time only; we have them in ours today, more so than ever before. The age of social media has fueled that. We even have people in the Church and outside of the Church who spread false teachings, seeking to deceive and derail the faithful. They know nothing about Church doctrine. They read Scripture upside down and quote passages out of context just to scheme, to manipulate, to deceive, and to derail believers.

They will only succeed in derailing gullible believers who believe whatever they see and read, regardless of the source.

We have the right to question what we don't understand, to seek clarity where there is doubt, because our faith is understandable. 

But we should not ask to challenge or criticize. Rather, ask in humility to understand, to learn, and to gain knowledge.

Another thing is: from where, or from whom, do we ask?

From where do we get the truth of our faith?

From social media? From someone who is not of our faith and seeks to ridicule us by explaining what they themselves don't understand? 

In a world of social media advancement and technological improvement, we should be very careful with what we see, read and believe to be true over social media.

Beware of false teachers. Beware of fake prophets and erroneous doctrines.

Beware of those we listen to.

In the Gospel, Jesus warns the scribes and Pharisees and calls them blind guides because of their erroneous teachings.

They stressed the outside of the cup, washing the outside of the cup, while neglecting what was within.

It was hypocrisy far more than internal transformation.

Jesus calls them blind guides:

What is more important, the outside or the inside?

But these blind guides, the Pharisees and the scribes, were deceiving the people with erroneous teachings and doctrines, derailing them.

This is the focus of the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians.

Be careful with what we see.

Be careful with what we read.

Not everything over social media is truth.

Let's seek God in truth.

And if you seek the truth in humility, God will reveal all truth to you.

Amen.