Tonight, our reflection centers on growing in virtue—how we actively cultivate a life rooted in Christ and aligned with his teachings, beginning in the small, ordinary moments of our day. However, I’d like to begin with a brief reading from the Gospel of Luke.

“12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Lk 14:12–14.

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NB: This reflection was given on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Introduction

Today, we celebrate a great feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and as with all of her feast days, I find myself reflecting on the integrity of the Christian life—how Christianity is not something we can neatly compartmentalize but rather must encompass every aspect of who we are. This is something that is easy for us to forget. We know, of course, that our faith is not something we put on just for Sundays and then set aside for the rest of the week, but it can still be easy to lose sight of how much Christ seeks to transform us, how much he desires to touch and sanctify every single part of our lives.

Tonight, I would like to reflect on the topic of hypocrisy, particularly the various ways in which it tends to manifest. Whenever I hear the word hypocrisy, what often comes to mind, perhaps due to the time and place of my upbringing in Alabama, is televangelists. These were men who promoted the Gospel on television but frequently targeted particular sins with great fervor. Over the years, how many of them did we see fall from grace, as it was revealed that the very sins they condemned so passionately were the ones they themselves committed in secret—and they were inevitably caught.