Dear Brother Knights:

As you well know, Jesus Christ is criticizing the scribes and the Pharisees in many places in the New Testament. The spiritual sickness, which He points out to be with them, can also be incurred by each one of us. These people were arrogant and conceited, and refused to expose themselves to the God they worshipped in the temple. They gave rules to other people but never put the spirit of these rules into their own life. For instance, they did all their deeds to be seen by others for they made their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They loved to have the place of honour at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues. They liked to be greeted with respect at the market places and to have people call them Rabbi. Working on one’s image to impress other people is actually worshipping false gods.

We are all brothers and sisters and have to foster an attitude of concern for each other and interpret oneself as recipients from the one God who loves us. Whatever office we accept is a gift from the one who rules the universe. As Jesus Christ says at another place in Holy Scripture, when you have done all you can, say, “I am only a servant of the Lord.”

To put this understanding in our daily lives makes us less nervous about the question of how we do, and how we look in the eyes of other people. The reason for this is we put all things into God’s hands and don’t need to worry.

My dear knights, I wish you a good night’s sleep!!

Fr. Frank Feldmann, SAC
K of C Chaplain