First reading of the day is 2 Kings 22:8-13, 23:1-3



Maybe I'm supposed to get something else out of this, but I really think that this is about the priests neglecting their duty to tell the people the word of God. King Josiah, it seems to me, is doing what he thinks is best, renovating the temple, and they uncover this book of the law, which I assume is the Torah. Why was this book hidden? Had it been untended for so long that the group pf priests, scribes, etc., that live in the temple complex had forgotten it? Well, I just scanned the last bits of the chapter before, and this may be somewhat the fault of lots of evil kings. Apparently, at least the two kings before Josiah worshiped idols, practiced magic, and shed innocent blood. Maybe the priests hid the book to save it, and then it just got forgotten after so many years. This is why guys like Elijiah and his son Elisha were so special. They were brave enough to stand up to blood thirsty kings, when the priests and scribes of the temple were not.

Next reading is Matthew 7:15-20

Before I begin, I want you to see what the footnote from the New American Bible for this reading is: "Christian disciples who claimed to speak in the name of God are called prophets (Matthew 7:15) in Matthew 10:41; Matthew 23:34. They were presumably an important group within the church of Matthew. As in the case of the Old Testament prophets, there were both true and false ones, and for Matthew the difference could be recognized by the quality of their deeds, the fruits (Matthew 7:16). The mention of fruits leads to the comparison with trees, some producing good fruit, others bad." I want to balance this with another story. Mark 9:38-40 Ever since I read this verse back in May, it has been playing around my mind. Jesus said, "whoever is not against us is for us". Now, in this new verse, he is talking about false prophets. So, I think this is telling us to be careful in our judgements. He doesn't want us to just watch the actions and intentions of our religious leaders and peers, he wants us to gauge the results. The fruit, the results of their actions tell us if someone is against God or for God in their hearts, not the differences in sect or denomination. Or at least that's what I read from this. Let's see if that gets good results.

Wow! I was just looking around for a news story for the day, and this one seems to tie right in: Italian Businessman Who Claimed To Be Vatican Insider to Face Fraud Charges