A casual reading of the gospels would suggest that all the Pharisees were opposed to Jesus and were intent upon killing him. And yet we know that this is not true: Nicodemus, a Pharisee, was a secret disciple of Jesus, and Gamaliel, another Pharisee, defended Jesus’ apostles before the Sanhedrin. So too, we have just heard how some of the Pharisees actually warned Jesus that Herod intended to kill him. This fact should caution us against stereotypical and negative attitudes towards whole groups of people we disagree with, dislike, or are threatened by. This is especially true in our presently polarized society and church where just such stereotypical attitudes threaten the very fabric of society and undermine the unity and integrity of the Church, that beloved Mystical Body of Christ. In contrast, a central characteristic of the saints we will honor tomorrow is, precisely, their ability to encounter each person in his or her uniqueness, and not through the often-distorting filters of race, ethnicity, gender, class, political persuasion, or theologically liberal or conservative categories. But, since we are not yet saints, none of us is completely free of this stereotyping tendency. Becoming aware of it in ourselves is thus the indispensable condition for combatting it, instead of perpetuating this divisive and destructive vice.