The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted!

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying,

"The scribes and the Pharisees

have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.

Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,

but do not follow their example.

For they preach but they do not practice.

They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry

and lay them on people's shoulders,

but they will not lift a finger to move them.

All their works are performed to be seen.

They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.

They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues,

greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.'

As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.'

You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.

Call no one on earth your father;

you have but one Father in heaven.

Do not be called 'Master';

you have but one master, the Christ.

The greatest among you must be your servant.

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;

but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

~Matthew 23:1-12

Jesus knew that the priests were human too and filled with so much hypocrisy. They thought they were above all. It was sad to see, yet, Jesus called them on it. We today see it as well from our priests and clergy. My spouse and I have witnessed it firsthand a few times with clergy or someone supposedly of God acting unlike Jesus, almost hateful, ignoring, avoiding, dismissing, as if they are above others or so holy, more so than we are to just be so apathetic. Even Bishop Fulton Sheen spoke about how indifference is not any more than hate when you show it. Today we see a lot of priests who are very indifferent with their parishioners. We went to a church and that priest would never look at us or have anything to do with us, we would also see him at the local gym, and he would completely ignore and avoid us. After a while, we found another church where the priest was much more loving and embracing, and started going there instead. That same priest from the gym after like six months of not going to his parish anymore, asked us if we still went to his church, we just said no, we switched to another church. He seemed offended, as if we were rude for leaving his church. We just never felt accepted or cared for, really loved there by him. We do pray for him and all priests and clergy, we try not to judge them, being a member of clergy is hard I am sure, and they have to live up to something so great, and it is so hard to do, that so many fail for that reason, we just pray for them, not judge them. When we saw Pope Francis slap a lady who just wanted to kiss his hand, we were taken back by it, it was not a nice image for the church, the clergy needs our prayers for sure, but Jesus calls us to love, not judge, and pray for all. We have another friend who was a minister too, who almost seems like he has lost his faith and no longer reflects Jesus, cannot respond, say thank you, or write back, all we can do is pray for people. A lot of clergy, priests, and Pharisees are hypocrites dealing with a lot of societal issues, they are children of God too and we are not called to judge them, only to love and pray for them and that is what we do. Remember Jesus said that, " The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted! We just need to learn to love everyone always!  Following Jesus always! Practice what He preached!