01/08/2025
"PALASIMBA, ANG SAMA NAMAN NG UGALI..." BEFORE YOU CALL THEM HYPOCRITES..
Youโve probably heard it beforeโmaybe from a friend, a neighbour, or even in your own thoughts: โMas mabuti pa โyung hindi nagsisimba pero mabait, kesa โyung palasimba pero masama naman ang ugali.โ (โItโs better to be kind even if you donโt go to Mass, than to go to Mass regularly but behave badly.โ)
At first, it sounds reasonable. After all, shouldnโt our faith show in the way we live? If we worship God on Sunday, shouldnโt we reflect His love the rest of the week? Yes, we should. But when that observation is used not to call someone deeper into the faith, but to shame or condemn, it becomes something harmful. Because beneath it is a subtle lie: that itโs better to stay away from God completely than to keep showing up while still struggling with sin. That kind of thinking doesnโt come from God. Thatโs the voice of the infernal enemy.
The Church has NEVER CLAIMED to be a club for the perfect. It is a hospital for the sick; a place where sinners go not because theyโre already healed, but because they are IN NEED of healing. Jesus said it Himself: โThey that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. I have not come to call the just, but sinners to penance.โ (Luke 5:31โ32, CPDV)
That means the Catholic who still falls into sin, still messes up, still strugglesโbut keeps coming to Mass anywayโis not a hypocrite. That person may actually be living in humility, not hypocrisy. They know theyโre not yet the person they should be, but they believe God is still working on them. And they refuse to give up.
We must not confuse struggle with hypocrisy. A hypocrite is someone who pretends to be holy and has no intention of changing. But a sinner who keeps showing up, kneeling down, asking God for strengthโthatโs a soul in the process of transformation. Grace often works slowly, and most of the time invisibly.
Itโs easy to look at someone and say, โThey go to Mass, but look how they act.โ But we donโt see the whole story. We donโt see how many times that person has gone to confession. We donโt hear the prayers they say at night. We donโt know how far theyโve already come from where they started.
And yet some will say, โThatโs why I donโt go to Mass. I donโt want to be a hypocrite like them.โ But thatโs exactly what the devil wants: for you to think that Mass is only for the already holy. Thatโs not how it works. We donโt become good before we go to God. Rather, we go to God so that we may become good. Refusing to go to Mass because you still sin is like refusing to go to the doctor because youโre still sick. Or refusing to eat because youโre still hungry.
If youโre someone whoโs still struggling, still trying, still far from where you want to be, but youโre holding on to faith, still attending Mass, then please donโt stop. Donโt let anyone convince you that you donโt belong. You are not a hypocrite. You are the very reason Jesus built His Church.
And if youโve been one of those who looks at others in judgment, mocking those who โgo to church but donโt changeโ, then take care. In the Gospel, it was the proud Pharisee who looked down on others and went home unjustified, while the sinner who beat his breast and asked for mercy received Godโs favour. (cf. Luke 18:9โ14)
God doesnโt ask for perfection before He welcomes us. He asks for repentance, for humility, and for the courage to come back to Him โ again and again. So instead of saying, โAt least Iโm not like them,โ maybe we should start saying, โLord, be merciful to me, a sinner.โ And instead of pushing others away because of their sins, maybe we should draw near to them and say, โLetโs walk this road of conversion together.โ
In the end, the Church isnโt made up of those whoโve already arrived. Itโs made up of those who still believe, despite their wounds, despite their failures, and despite the long road ahead: that Godโs mercy is bigger than their mess.
