The gospel for the feast of St. Charles Lwanga and companions is from Mark 11th chapter 2733. Jesus disciples return once more to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes and the elders approached him and said to him, by what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them? Jesus said to them, I shall ask you a question.

Answer me and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was John’s baptism of heavenly or human origin? Answer me. They discussed this among themselves and said, if we say of heavenly origin, he will say, then why did you not believe in him? But shall we say of human origin? They feared the crowd for they all thought John really was a prophet.

So he said to Jesus in reply, we don’t know. And Jesus said to them, neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things. Human nature has revealed a weakness. It’s prone to imagining that it is the source of all truth and that the only thing that should be are the things that they believe should be. They become their own authority. And Jesus is so clearly revealing the heart of the problem of the temple.

It’s human beings creating institution that serves them. And they’re the final word, not the scriptures, not God. But they are the one who determines reality. The Closing Prayer Father, it’s not so much that we fall into a trap of thinking that we know all the answers, but the real problem is we’re not open to the answers that you are there to give to us. You are the source of all truth, and without that source, we are lost in terms of being able to make the decisions that bring us into your kingdom. Open our minds, open our hearts to the truth that you have taught us.

And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.