pious practices and duplicity

today's homily was based on the Gospel of St. Matthew 23:1-12 - and moreover, Fr. Al spoke about Catholics and pious practices. part of the reading spoke of the Jews:

They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long

and he went on to explain what phylacteries were - in this picture, his man wears phylacteries bound to head and arm, containing portions of the scriptures, and a tallit or prayer shawl. they were (and probably still are) used in an effort to encourage the wearer to keep the Torah ever in the forefront of their minds but in the Scripture above, Jesus was referring to the Jews who wore them to show everyone how pious and holy they are; letter of the Law, not the heart of it.

and he further discussed how many Catholics can practice pious practices - for example during Lent, abstaining from eating meat on fridays, but having lobster instead: doing so misses the point of abstinence being something of a sacrificial act entirely. in a way, he said, it represents how one can practice their piety but be double-minded in what their true desires are.

he used the word "duplicity" and if you have any idea what my week has been like, i felt like he stood at the ambo and pointed at me and said, "...Penni!!"

he was reassuring in that if you ever experienced this, there is time to sit at the foot of the Master and surrender our duplicity over to Him; we need to recognize there is "work to be done."

don't i know it.