God judges a man by what is in his heart not what he does or says.
The world is the opposite. The world judges by what it sees. Appearance and activity and how well both align with the evil one.
We live in a time when sex and lust andgreed rule the hearts of many men. And they are rewarded for their work with possessions and wealth and status. From Hollywood to the DC. They live among us and tell lies and mislead. Many go astray because of their words.
For their hearts are hard and filled with evil desires and their minds with evil thoughts.
Such is our world and such was the world Jesus lived in.
We choose how to live where we find ourselves in this time and place and in this circumstance. In doing so we choose where we will live for eternity. The test has always been the same. The result has also been the same for all.
So we are advised not to judge on appearances or status but only on what is in the heart. We are to see others as God does.
And we are to guard our interior life and heart to keep to the narrow path seldom taken that seeks to do the will of God. Always placing God first in our life.
Gospel
Jesus said:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean.”
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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