Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Father,
guide and protector of Your people,
grant us an unfailing respect for Your name,
and keep us always in Your love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 8:5-17
When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully." He said to him, "I will come and cure him." The centurion said in reply, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven, but the children of the Kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth." And Jesus said to the centurion, "You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you." And at that very hour his servant was healed. Jesus entered the house of Peter, and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, the fever left her, and she rose and waited on him. When it was evening, they brought him many who were possessed by demons, and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick, to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet: He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.
3) Reflection
• The Gospel today continues the description of the activity of Jesus to indicate how He put into practice the law of God, proclaimed on the mountain of the Beatitudes. After the cure of the leper in the Gospel of yesterday (Mt 8:1-4), it now follows the description of other cures.
• Matthew 8:5-7: The petition of the centurion and the answer of Jesus. When analyzing the texts of the Gospel, it is always good to be attentive to small details. The centurion is a pagan, a foreigner. He does not ask for anything, he only informs Jesus, telling him that his servant is sick and suffers terribly. Behind this attitude of people in regard to Jesus, there is the conviction that it was not necessary to ask things of Jesus. It was sufficient to communicate the problem to Him, and Jesus will do the rest. An attitude of unlimited trust! In fact, the reaction of Jesus is immediate: “I will come Myself and cure him!”
• Matthew 8:8: The reaction of the centurion. The centurion did not expect such an immediate and generous gesture. He did not expect that Jesus would go to his house. Beginning with his own experience of “head” he gives an example to express his faith and the trust that he had in Jesus. He tells Him: “Lord, I am not worthy to have You under my roof, just say a word and my servant will be cured. For I am under authority myself and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man, ‘Go’ and he goes, to another, ‘Come here’ and he comes, to my servant, ‘Do this’ and he does it”. This reaction of a foreigner before Jesus reveals what the opinion of the people was in regard to Jesus. Jesus was a person who could be trusted. He would not have driven away those who would go to Him to tell Him their problems. This is the image of Jesus which the Gospel of Matthew communicates to us even now that we read it in the XXI century.
• Matthew 8:10-13: Jesus’ comment. The official admired the reaction of Jesus and Jesus admired the reaction of the official: “In truth I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found faith as great as this”. Jesus already foresaw what was happening when Matthew wrote the Gospel: “And I tell you many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven, but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness outside where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth”. The message of Jesus, the new law of God proclaimed from the top of the mount of the Beatitudes is a response to the deepest desires of the human heart. The sincere and honest pagans like the centurion and so many others coming from the east and the west saw in Jesus the response to their yearning and they accepted it. The message of Jesus is not, in the first place, a doctrine or morals, nor a rite or a series of norms, but a deep experience of God which responds to what the human heart desires. It is this experience of God that people look for in the Church, or in their seeking through other religions, and we should live and radiate this way of God to others and to seekers.
• Matthew 8:14-15: The cure of Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus goes to Peter’s house and cures his mother-in-law. She was sick. In the second half of the first century, when Matthew writes, the expression “Peter’s house” evoked the Church, constructed on the rock which was Peter. Jesus enters into this house and cures Peter’s mother-in-law. “He touched her hand and the fever left her and she got up and began to serve Him”. In Greek, the word used is diakonew, to serve. A woman becomes deaconess in Peter’s house. This is what was happening in the communities of that time. In the letter to the Romans, Paul mentions the deaconess Phoebe of the community of Cenchreae (Rm 16:1). Service was a hallmark of the first Christians.
• Matthew 8, 16-17: The fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. Matthew says that “when evening came”, they brought many people to Jesus who were possessed by the devil. Why only at night? Because in Mark’s Gospel, from where Matthew takes his information, it was a Saturday (Mk 1:21), and Saturday ended at sunset. Then people could go out of the house, carry a burden and take the sick to the place where Jesus was. “Jesus, with His word, cast out the evil spirits and cured all the sick! Using a text of Isaiah, Matthew throws light on the meaning of Jesus’ actions: “So that which Isaiah had said would be fulfilled”. “Ours were the sufferings He was bearing, ours the sorrows He was carrying”. In this way, Matthew teaches that Jesus was the Messiah-Servant, announced by Isaiah (Is 53:4; cf. Is 42:1-9; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12). Matthew was doing what our communities do today: to use the Bible to enlighten and interpret the events and discover the presence of the creative word of God.
4) Personal questions
• Notice how Jesus didn’t wait to be asked. In our imitation of Him, do we wait to help others until we are asked? Why?
• The Good News of Jesus is not, in the first place, a doctrine or morals, nor a rite or a series of norms, but it is a profound and authentic experience of God that responds to what the human heart yearns for, and contained in the summation of the two greatest commandments. However, how can Church doctrine, morality, and instruction work in bringing us this profound and authentic experience of God? What spiritual practices help to bring this experience?
• Many people and religions claim to offer a profound experience of God. This is also an area where Satan, the deceiver, is expert in. How do we discern authentic experience from one that is just “feel good” or one that merely satisfies our earthly desires at the moment?
• Two thousand years ago there was no Internet, no shopping malls, no television or movies, no printing presses, etc. Religion filled peoples’ lives. Is the experience of the centurion possible today with so many doubts, alternatives, and distractions? How can we move to make God central to our lives again?
5) Concluding Prayer
Proclaim with me the greatness of Yahweh,
let us acclaim His name together.
I seek Yahweh and He answers me,
frees me from all my fears. (Ps 34:3-4)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Father,
guide and protector of Your people,
grant us an unfailing respect for Your name,
and keep us always in Your love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 8:1-4
After Jesus had come down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. Suddenly a man with a virulent skin-disease came up and bowed low in front of Him, saying, 'Lord, if You are willing, You can cleanse me.' Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, 'I am willing. Be cleansed.' And his skin-disease was cleansed at once. Then Jesus said to him, 'Mind you tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering prescribed by Moses, as evidence to them.'
3) Reflection
•In chapters 5 to 7 we have heard the words of the New Law proclaimed on the Mountain by Jesus. Now, in chapters 8 and 9, Matthew indicates how Jesus put into practice what He had just taught. In today’s Gospel (Mt 8:1-4) and tomorrow’s (Mt 8: 5-17), we see closely the following episodes which reveal how Jesus practiced the Law: the cure of a leper (Mt 8:1-4), the cure of the servant of the Roman soldier (Mt 8:5-13), the cure of Peter’s mother-in law (Mt 8:14-15) and the healing of numerous sick people (Mt 8:14-17).
• Matthew 8:1-2: The leper asks, “Lord, if You are willing You can cleanse me”. A leper comes close to Jesus. The leper was one who was excluded. Anybody who touched him would remain unclean! This is why the lepers had to remain far away (Lev 13:45-46). But that leper had great courage. He transgresses the norms of religion in order to be able to enter into contact with Jesus. Getting close to Him he says, ‘If You are willing You can cleanse me! That is to say, ‘It is not necessary for You to touch me!’ It suffices that the Lord wants it and he will be cured”. This statement reveals two things: 1) the sickness of leprosy which made people unclean; 2) the sickness of solitude to which the person was condemned, separated from society and from religion. It reveals also the man’s great faith in the power of Jesus.
• Matthew 8:3: Jesus touches him and says, ‘I am willing. Be cleansed.’ Filled with compassion, Jesus cures two sicknesses. In the first place, in order to cure solitude, loneliness, before saying any word, He touches the leper. It is as if he said, “For Me, you are not excluded. I am not afraid to become unclean by touching you! And I accept you as a brother!” Then He cures the leper, saying, “I am willing! Be cleansed!” The leper, in order to be able to enter in contact with Jesus, had transgressed the norms of the Law. Thus Jesus, in order to help that excluded person and reveal the new face of God, transgresses the norms of his religion and touches the leper.
• Matthew 8:4: Jesus orders the man to go and show himself to the priest. At that time, a leper, in order to be reintegrated into the community, needed a certificate of healing confirmed by the priest. It is the same thing today. The sick person gets out of the hospital only if he has a certificate signed by the physician. Jesus obliges the person to obtain that document in order to be able to live normally. He obliges the authority to recognize that the man has been cured. Jesus not only heals but wants the healed person to be able to live with others. He reintegrates the person into the fraternal life of the community. The Gospel of Mark adds that the man did not present himself to the priest. Instead, “He went away and started freely proclaiming and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into the town, but stayed outside in deserted places” (Mk 1: 45). Why could Jesus no longer enter openly into the town? Because He had touched the leper and had become unclean before the religious authority who embodied the law of that time. And now, because of this, Jesus was unclean and had to be far from everybody. He could no longer enter into the city. But Mark shows that people cared very little for these official norms, because people came to Jesus from all parts! This was totally overthrowing things! The message which Mark gives us is the following: In order to take the Good News of God to the people, we should not be afraid to transgress the religious norms which are contrary to God’s project and which prevent a fraternal spirit and love, even if this causes some difficulty to the people, as it did to Jesus.
• In Jesus everything is revelation of what He has within himself! He does not only announce the Good News of the Kingdom. He is an example, a living witness of the Kingdom, a revelation of God. In Him appears what happens when a human being allows God to reign, allows God to occupy the center of his life.
4) Personal questions
• In the name of the Law of God, the lepers were excluded and they could not live with others. In our Church are there norms and customs which are not written and marginalize persons and exclude them from living together with others and from communion? Do you know any such persons? What is your opinion concerning this?
• Jesus had the courage to touch the leper. Would you have this courage?
5) Concluding Prayer
I will bless Yahweh at all times,
His praise continually on my lips.
I will praise Yahweh from my heart;
let the humble hear and rejoice. (Ps 34:1-2)
Birth of the Precursor of the Lord
1. Let us recollect ourselves in Prayer – Statio
Prayer of Cardinal Mercier to the Holy Spirit
Oh God, who has instructed Your faithful, enlightening their hearts with the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us that in the same Spirit we may have the desire to do good and to enjoy always His comfort.
May there be glory, adoration, love, and blessing to You Eternal Divine Spirit, who has brought to earth for us the Savior of our souls. And may there be glory and honor to His most adorable heart who loves us with an infinite love.
Oh Holy Spirit, soul of my soul, I adore You: enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me, teach me what I should do, give me your orders.
I promise to submit myself to all that will happen to me, allowed by You: I ask only that I may know Your will.
2. Prayerful Reading of the Word - Lectio
From the Gospel according to Luke (1:57-66,80)
When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, "No. He will be called John." But they answered her, "There is no one among your relatives who has this name." So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name," and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, "What, then, will this child be?" For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.
3. Pondering the Word - Meditatio
3.1 Key to the Reading
This passage of the Gospel forms part of the account of the infancy of Jesus. In a particular way this text follows the scene of the visitation of Mary “in the house of Zechariah” (Lk 1:40) after the event of the Annunciation by the Angel, the messenger of the new creation.
In fact, the Annunciation inaugurates, in a joyful way, the fulfillment of God’s promise to His people (Lk 1:26-38). The joy of the new times, which filled Mary, now inundates the heart of Elizabeth. She rejoices with the announcement brought by Mary (Lk 1:41). Mary, on the other hand, “magnifies the Lord” (Lk 1:46) because He has worked great things in her, just as He has worked great marvels for His people in need of salvation.
The expression “the time came” reminds us that this reality does not only strike Elizabeth who is about to give birth, but also reveals something of God’s plan. In fact, Saint Paul tells us that when the completion of the time came, God sent His Only Begotten Son “born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law, so that we could receive adoption as children” of God (Gal 4:4).
In the Gospel, Jesus speaks about the completion of times, especially in the Gospel of John. Two of these times are the wedding at Cana (Jn 2:1-12) and the agony on the cross where Jesus exclaims that “all is fulfilled” (Jn 19:30). In the fulfillment of the times, Jesus inaugurates an era of salvation. The birth of John the Baptist inaugurates this time of salvation. In fact, at the arrival of the Messiah, he exults and leaps in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth (Lk 1:44). Later on, he will define himself as the friend of the bridegroom (Jesus) who exults and rejoices because of the event of the wedding with the bride, the Church (Jn 3:29).
The son will not be named after his father Zechariah, but John. Zechariah reminds us that God does not forget His people. In fact, his name means “God remembers”. His son will now be called “God remembers”, because God’s promises were being fulfilled. The prophetic mission of John has to indicate God’s mercy. In fact, he will be called Johanan, which is “God is mercy”. This mercy is manifested in the visit to the people, precisely “as he had promised by the mouth of His holy prophets of ancient times” (Lk 1:67-70). Thus, the name indicates the mission of the one about to be born. Zechariah will write the name of his son on a tablet so that all could see with admiration (Lk 1:63). This tablet is the echo of another inscription, written by Pilate to be fixed on the cross of Jesus. This inscription revealed the identity of the mission of the crucified: “Jesus, the Nazarene, King of the Jews” (Jn 19:19). This writing also provoked the admiration of those who were in Jerusalem for the feast.
John is the precursor of Jesus in everything. Since his birth and childhood he points out to Christ. “Who will this child be? He is “the voice which cries out in the desert” (Jn 1:23), impelling all to prepare the way of the Lord. He is not the Messiah (Jn 1:20), but he indicates this with his preaching, and above all, with his lifestyle of asceticism in the desert. Meanwhile, the child grew up and his spirit grew strong. He lived in the desert until the day he appeared openly to Israel” (Lk 1:80).
3.2 Questions to direct the meditation and the carrying out
- Do you or your community rejoice when God shows great mercy on another in the community, or do you grumble or even ignore it?
- John identifies himself as the friend of the bridegroom. According to you, what is the meaning of this image?
- John the Baptist is the one who prepares the way for the Lord. How is this relevant in our daily life?
4. Oratio
Let us bless the Lord together with Zechariah (Lk 1:68-79)
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
for He has visited His people, He has set them free,
and He has established for us a saving power
in the House of His servant David,
just as He proclaimed,
by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient times,
that He would save us from our enemies
and from the hands of all those who hate us,
and show faithful love to our ancestors,
and so keep in mind His holy covenant.
This was the oath He swore to our father Abraham,
that He would grant us, free from fear,
to be delivered from the hands of our enemies,
to serve Him in holiness and uprightness in His presence,
all our days.
And you, little child,
you shall be called prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare a way for Him,
to give His people knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the faithful love of our God
in which the daybreak on high will visit us,
to give light to those who live in darkness
and the shadow dark as death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
5. Contemplatio
Let us all together adore the mercy and the goodness of God repeating in silence:
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Father,
guide and protector of Your people,
grant us an unfailing respect for Your name,
and keep us always in Your love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 7:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them."
3) Reflection
• We are reaching the final recommendations of the Sermon on the Mount. Comparing the Gospel of Matthew with that of Mark, one perceives a great difference in the way in which they present the teaching of Jesus. Matthew insists more on the content of the teaching and organizes it into five great discourses, of which the first one is the Sermon of the Mount (Mt 5 to 7). Mark says over fifteen times that Jesus taught, but he rarely says what He taught. In spite of this difference, both agree on a point: Jesus taught very much. To teach was what Jesus did the most (Mk 2:13; 4:1-2; 6:34). He does it always (Mk 10:1). Matthew is interested in the content. To teach is not only a way of communicating a truth in such a way that people learn it. The content is not limited to words, but it is also composed of gestures and in the way Jesus related Himself with people. The content is never separated from the person who communicates it. The person, in fact, is the origin of the content. Good content without intrinsic goodness is like milk spilled on the ground. It does not convince and conversion does not take place.
• The final recommendations and the result of the Sermon on the Mount in the conscience of the people are the points of the Gospel of today (Mt 7:15-20) and of tomorrow (Mt 7:21-29). (The sequence of the Gospel of the days of the week are not always the same as that of the Gospels).
Matthew 7:13-14: Choose the sure way.
Matthew 7:15-20: The prophet is known by the fruits.
Matthew 7:21-23: Not only speak, but act.
Matthew 7:24-27: Construct the house on rock.
Matthew 7:28-29: The new conscience of the people.
• Matthew 7:15-16ª: Beware of false prophets. In the time of Jesus, there were prophets of all types, people who announced apocalyptic messages to involve people in different movements of that time: Essenes, Pharisees, Zealots, and others (cf. Ac 5:36-37). When Matthew writes there were also prophets who announced messages different from the one proclaimed by the community. The letters of Paul mention these movements and tendencies (cf. 1 Co 12:3; Gal 1:7-9; 2:11-14; 6:12). It must not have been easy for the community to make a discernment of spirits. This marks the importance of the words of Jesus on false prophets. The warning of Jesus is very strong: “Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves”. The same image is used when Jesus sends the disciples on mission: “I am sending you out as sheep among wolves” (Mt 10:16 and Lc 10:3). The opposition between the ravenous wolf and the meek sheep is irreconcilable, unless the wolf is converted and looses its aggressiveness as the prophet Isaiah suggests (Is 11:6; 65:25). What is important here in our text is the gift of discernment. It is not easy to discern spirits. Sometimes it happens that personal interests or the interests of a group lead one to proclaim as false those prophets who announce the disturbing truth. That happened with Jesus. He was eliminated and put to death, considered a false prophet by the religious authorities of that time. Every so often, the same thing has happened and continues to happen in Christianity.
In our society today we experience false prophets in many ways. First, there are the obvious ones who proclaim ridiculous things in order to have some fame. There are others who use Christianity for personal gain. Those who get on television, or the Internet, or in a community and suggest that filling their bank account with money from the community members is what God wants. There are others who distort the word of God, or add to it or remove parts, in order to form their own separate community or beliefs. There are those that claim a personal revelation from God that is not consistent with Church teaching. Some claim to be God. The list can go on… Jesus warns us to not be misled. It is a wide road that carries all of these false prophets and teachers and their followers.
• Matthew 7:16b-20: The comparison of the tree and of its fruits. To help to discern spirits, Jesus uses the comparison of fruit: “You will be able to tell them by their fruits”. A similar criteria had been suggested in the book of Deuteronomy (Dt 18:21-22). Jesus adds: “Can you pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way a sound tree produces good fruit, but a rotten tree bad fruit. A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit. Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. In the Gospel of John, Jesus completes the comparison: “Every branch in me that bears no fruit, he cuts away. Every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes to make it bear even more. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, unless it remains part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in Me. Those branches will be cut off and thrown into the fire to be burnt” (Jn 15:2,4,6).
Some preach that believing in God will make you wealthy and give you the easy life. This is not Jesus’ message. When the person saying this has used the charity of the community and the people to build a huge mansion for themselves and very little goes to the poor, this is contrary to Jesus’ teaching. This is a lack of the fruit of good works that Jesus talks about, so it is easy to discern if one looks. This form of teaching does not produce good works. The same applies to those who preach violence, retribution, and even death for others. This is not consistent with Jesus’ teaching. He does not advocate killing, nor does He ever suggest “getting even”. In fact, He teaches the opposite, no matter what the offense. This is another fruit that can be used to discern the truth.
A false prophet does not even have to claim to be a prophet. The culture of death through abortion is one example. The fruit of abortion is innocent death. It is even possible that those teaching the truth are labeled as false teachers by others. We can see this in the arguments among some in the Church and with various ecclesial communities.
4) Personal questions
• Do you know any case in which a good and honest person who proclaimed a truth was condemned as a false prophet?
• How do the fruits of your actions reveal yourself to others?
• Can we use the same criteria, fruits or results, to discern the truth from the collective efforts of groups as well? Are there groups within Christianity or the Church that are so closed in on themselves that they produce little good fruit? Are there groups in Christianity or the Church that end up distorting truth or doctrine in their zeal or confusion? Can you identify some?
5) Concluding Prayer
Yahweh, look at my suffering and rescue me,
for I do not forget Your Law.
Plead my cause and defend me;
as You promised, give me life. (Ps 119:153-154)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Father,
guide and protector of Your people,
grant us an unfailing respect for Your name,
and keep us always in Your love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 7:6,12-14
Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces. "Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets. "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few."
3) Reflection
• Discernment and prudence in offering things of value. In relationships with others Jesus, warns about certain dangerous attitudes. The first one of these is to not judge (7:1-5): it is a true and proper prohibition, “do not judge”. It is an action that influences and drives contempt or condemnation of others. The last judgment is the exclusive competence of God. Our figures of measure and our criteria are relative and they are conditioned by our subjectivity. Any condemnation of others becomes a condemnation of oneself, in so far as it places us under the judgment of God and we exclude ourselves from pardon. If your eye is pure, that is to say, is free from every judgment of the brothers, then you can relate with them in a true way before God. Now we consider the words of Jesus offered to us by the liturgical text: “Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls in front of pigs, or they may trample them and then turn on you and tear you to pieces” (Mt 7:6). At first sight, this “saying” of Jesus sounds strange to the sensibility of today’s reader. It may represent a true enigma. But it is a way of saying in a Semitic language that has to be interpreted. At the time of Jesus, just as in ancient culture, dogs were not greatly appreciated because they were considered somewhat savage and wild. But let us now consider the positive and didactic-wisdom aspect of the words of Jesus: do not profane holy things. In the last instance, it is an invitation to use prudence and discernment. In the Old Testament, the holy things are the meat for the sacrifice (Lv 22:14; Ex 29:33 ff; Nb 18:8-19). The act of throwing pearls to the pigs is incomprehensible. For the Hebrews, the pigs are impure animals, the quintessence of repugnance. On the contrary, the pearls are the most precious things that can exist. The warning of Jesus refers to those who feed the stray dogs with consecrated meat destined to the sacrifice. Such behavior is evil and imprudent because those dogs were usually not fed and therefore, because of their insatiable hunger, they could turn back and attack their “benefactors”.
The pearls at the metaphoric level could indicate the teachings of the wise or the interpretation of the Torah. In Matthew’s Gospel the pearl is the image of the kingdom of God (Mt 13:45ff). The interpretation which the evangelist gives is above all theological. Surely, this is the interpretation which seems to be more in harmony with the text and with the ecclesial reading of the words of Jesus: a warning to the Christian missionaries not to preach the Gospel to just anybody.
• To follow a path. In the final part of the discourse (7:13-27), Matthew includes, among the others, an admonition of Jesus who invites us to make a choice in order to enter the kingdom of Heaven: through the narrow door (7:13-14). The word of Jesus is not only something to be understood and to interpret, but above all, it should become life. Now, to enter into the kingdom of Heaven it is necessary to follow a path and to enter into the fullness of life through a “door”. The theme of the “path, the way” is very dear to the Old Testament (Dt 11:26-28; 30, 15-20; Jr 21:8; Ps 1:6; Ps 118:29-30; Ps 138:4; Ws 5:6-7 etc.). The road represented by two doors leads to different goals. A significance that is consistent with the admonishments of Jesus would be that the wide door is joined to the wide path which leads to perdition or damnation, that is to say, to walk on a wide road is something pleasant, and capable of handling a great many travelers, but this is not said in our text. Rather it seems that Matthew agrees with the Jewish conception of the “road”; on the trail of Dt 30:19 and Jr 21:8 there are two roads that are in counter-position, that of death and that of life. To know how to choose among the many ways of life is decisive for entering into the kingdom of Heaven. Anyone who chooses the narrow road, that of life, should know that it is full of afflictions; narrow means tried by suffering for the sake of faith. Narrow paths, especially with a cart, are tricky and tough to travel. It is also less traveled. Matthew is telling his readers that most may not choose this path, so don’t expect it to be the way of the majority. Christianity was a new way, a new path, and many of the people of that time may not want to travel that path.
4) Personal questions
• Examine your day today. Are there instances where you did not treat a brother or sister as you would want to be treated? Do you make excuses as you ask yourself, saying “oh, it wouldn’t matter to me if he did that” rather than taking responsibility?
• The word of Jesus, or rather, Jesus Himself, is the door who makes us enter into the filial and fraternal life. Do you allow yourself to be guided and attracted by the narrow and demanding path of the Gospel? Or do you follow the wide and easy road that consists in doing what pleases or that leads you to satisfy all your desires, neglecting the needs of others?
5) Concluding Prayer
We reflect on Your faithful love, God,
in Your temple!
Both Your name and Your praise, God,
are over the whole wide world.
Your right hand is full of saving justice. (Ps 48:9-10)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Father,
guide and protector of Your people,
grant us an unfailing respect for Your name,
and keep us always in Your love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 7:1-5
Jesus said to his disciples: "Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,' while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye."
3) Reflection
• In today’s Gospel we continue to meditate on the Sermon on the Mount, found in chapters 5 to 7 of the Gospel of Matthew. During the 10th and 11th week we have seen chapters 5 and 6. Beginning today, we will see chapter 7. These three chapters, 5, 6, and 7, offer an idea of how the catechesis was done in the communities of the converted Jews in the second half of the first century in Galilee and in Syria. Matthew unites and organizes the words of Jesus to teach how the new way of living the law of God should be.
• After having explained how to re-establish justice (Mt 5:17 to 6:18) and how to restore the order of creation (Mt 6:19-34), Jesus teaches how the life in community should be (Mt 7:1-12). At the end He presents some recommendations and final advice (Mt 7:13-27). Then follows an outline of the entire Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 5:1-12: The Beatitudes: solemn openness of the New Law.
Matthew 5:13-16: The new presence in the world: Salt of the earth and light of the world.
Matthew 5:17-19: The new practice of justice: relationship with the ancient law. Matthew 5:20-48: The new practice of justice: observing the new law.
Matthew 6:1-4: The new practice of the works of piety: alms giving.
Matthew 6:5-15: The new practice of the works of piety: prayer.
Matthew 6:16-18: The new practice of the works of piety: fasting.
Matthew 6:19-21: The new relationship to material goods: do not store up.
Matthew 6:22-23: The new relationship to material goods: a correct vision.
Matthew 6:24: The new relationship to material goods: God or money.
Matthew 6:25-34: The new relationship to material goods: trust in Providence
Matthew 7:1-5: The new community life together: do not judge.
Matthew 7:6: The new community life together: do not despise the community.
Matthew 7:7-11: The new community life: trust in God produces sharing.
Matthew 7:12: The new community life together: the Golden Rule.
Matthew 7:13-14: Final recommendations to choose the sure way.
Matthew 7:15-20: Final recommendations, the prophet is known by his fruits.
Matthew 7:21-23: Final recommendations to not only speak but also practice.
Matthew 7:24-27: Final recommendations to construct the house on rock.
The community-lived experience of the Gospel (Mt 7:1-12) is the touchstone. It is where the seriousness of the commitment is defined. The new proposal of life in community embraces many aspects: do not observe the splinter in your brother’s eye (Mt 7:1-5), do not throw your pearls in front of pigs (Mt 7:6), do not be afraid to ask God for things (Mt 7:7-11). This advice reaches the summit in the Golden Rule: Always treat others as you would like them to treat you (Mt 7:12). The Gospel of today presents the first part: Matthew 7:1-5.
• Matthew 7:1-2: Do not judge and you will not be judged. The first condition for a good life together in community is not to judge brother or sister. That is, to eliminate the preconceptions which prevent a transparent community life. What does this mean concretely? John’s Gospel gives an example of how Jesus lived in community with the disciples. Jesus says: “I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know the master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learned from My Father” (Jn 15:15). Jesus is an open book for His companions. This transparency comes from His total trust in the brothers and sisters and has its origin in His intimacy with the Father who gives Him the force of opening himself up totally to others. Anyone who lives in this way with his brothers and sisters accepts others as they are, without any preconceptions, without previously imposing any conditions, without judging. Mutual acceptance without any pretension and with total transparency! This is the ideal of the new community life, which has come from the Good News which Jesus has brought to us: God is our Father, and therefore, we are all brothers and sisters. It is a difficult ideal, but as beautiful and attractive as the other one: “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
• Matthew 7:3-5: You observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the great log in your own. Immediately Jesus gives an example: Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye, and never notice the great log in your own? And how dare you say to your brother, “Let me take that splinter out of your eye, when look, there is a great log in your own? Hypocrite! Take the log out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye”. When hearing this phrase we usually think of the Pharisees who despised the common people, considering them ignorant and they considered themselves better than others (cf. Jn 7:49; 9:34). In reality, this statement of Jesus serves for all of us. For example, it is often the case that we criticize the very thing in others that we do ourselves. We observe the splinter in the eye of our brothers and we do not see the big log in our own eyes. These logs can cause many people today to have difficulty in believing in the Good News of Jesus.
4) Personal questions
• Think about the things I criticize other for. Does it reveal the same behavior, in some way, in me?
• Does this show that we all have more in common than in differences, and that it is only the log in the eye that is the problem in understanding this?
• Splinters and logs share a similar nature: both are wood. What faults do I share with others in my community or family which I seem to be blind to in myself?
5) Concluding Prayer
Your kindnesses to me are countless, Yahweh;
true to Your judgments,
give me life. (Ps 119:156)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Almighty God,
our hope and our strength,
without You we falter.
Help us to follow Christ
and to live according to Your will.
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 6:24-34
Jesus said to his disciples: "No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?' All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil."
3) Reflection
• Today’s Gospel helps us to review our relationship with material goods and presents two themes of diverse importance: our relationship with money (Mt 6:24) and our relationship with Divine Providence (Mt 6:25-34). The advice given by Jesus gave rise to several difficult questions. For example, how can we understand the affirmation: “You cannot serve God and money” (Mt 6:24)? How can we understand the recommendation not to worry about food, about drink, and about dress (Mt 6:25)?
• Matthew 6:24: You cannot serve God and money. Jesus is very clear in His affirmation: “No one can serve two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot serve God and money… Each one has to make his/her own choice. They should ask themselves: “To what do I give the first place in my life: God or money?” This choice will depend on understanding the advice which follows about Divine Providence (Mt 6:25-34). It is not a question about a choice made only in one’s head, but rather a very concrete choice of life that has to do with attitudes.
• Matthew 6:25: Jesus criticizes excessive worry about eating and drinking. This criticism of Jesus, even in our day, causes great fear in people because the great worry of all parents is how to get food and clothing for their children. The reason for the criticism is that life is worth more than food and the body more than the clothes. In order to clarify or explain his criticism Jesus presents two parables: the birds of the air and the flowers.
• Matthew 6:26-27: The parable of the birds of the air: life is worth more than food. Jesus orders them to look at the birds. They do not sow, or reap or gather into barns, but they always have something to eat because the Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are?” Jesus criticizes the fact that the worry about food occupies the whole horizon of the life of people, without leaving space to experience and relish gratuity and fraternity and the sense of belonging to the Father. This is why materialism is wrong, because it obliges the great majority of people to live 24 hours a day, worried about food and clothing, and produces in a rich minority, quite a limited one, the anguish of buying and consuming up to the point of not leaving space for anything else. Jesus says that life is worth more than the goods to be consumed! Materialist prevents living the Kingdom.
• Matthew 6:28-30: the parable of the lilies in the fields: the body is worth more than clothing. Jesus asks us to look at the flowers, the lilies of the fields. How elegant and beautiful God dresses them! “Now if that is how God clothes the wild flowers growing in the field which are there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will He not much more look after you, you who have so little faith?” Jesus says to look at the things of nature, because seeing the flowers of the field, people will remember the mission which we have: to struggle for the Kingdom and to create a new life, living together, which can guarantee the food and clothing for everybody.
• Matthew 6:31-32: Do not be like the Gentiles. Jesus once again criticizes the excessive worry over food, drink, and clothing. He concludes: “The gentiles are concerned about these things!” There should be a difference in the life of those who have faith in Jesus and those who do not have faith in Jesus. Those who have faith in Jesus share with Him the experience of the gratuity of God the Father, Abba. This experience of paternity should revolutionize life together. It should generate a community life which is fraternal, and the seed of a new society.
• Matthew 6:33-34: Set your hearts on the Kingdom first. Jesus indicates two criteria: “To seek first the kingdom of God” and not to worry about tomorrow. To seek first the Kingdom and its justice is a means to seek to do God’s will and allow God to reign in our life. The search for God is concretely expressed in the search for a fraternal and just life together. From this concern for the Kingdom springs a community life in which all live as brothers and sisters and nobody is lacking anything. Here there will be no worry for tomorrow, that is, there will be no worry about storing up things.
• Seek first of all the kingdom of God and its justice. The kingdom of God should be at the center of all of our concerns. The Kingdom demands a life together, where there is no storing up of things, but sharing in such a way that all have what is necessary to live. The Kingdom is the new fraternal life together, in which each person feels responsible for others. This way of seeing the Kingdom helps us to better understand the parables of the birds and the flowers, because for Jesus, Divine Providence passes through the community. To be concerned about the kingdom of God and its justice is the same as to be concerned about accepting God, the Father, and of being brother and sister with others. Before the growing impoverishment caused by economic consumerism, the concrete form which the Gospel presents to us gives us an alternative so that the poor will be able to live via the solidarity of the organization.
• A sharp knife in the hands of a child can be a mortal weapon. A sharp knife in the hand of a person hanging on a cord can save. The words of God on Divine Providence are like this. It would not be evangelical to say to a jobless father, who is poor, who has eight children and a sick wife: “Do not worry about food or drink! Why worry about health and clothes?” (Mt 6:25-28). We can say this only when we ourselves imitate Jesus, organize ourselves to share, guaranteeing in this way to the brother the possibility of surviving. Otherwise, we are like the three friends of Job, that in order to defend God they told lies (Job 13:7). It would be like “abandoning an orphan and betraying a friend”. In the mouth of the rich, these words can be a mortal arm against the poor. In the mouth of the poor they can be a real and concrete outlet for a better life together, more just and more fraternal.
4) Personal questions
• What do I understand by Divine Providence? Do I trust in Divine Providence? How do I express it in real life? Can it be better expressed now that I look at it and myself?
• In helping others we participate in Divine Providence, which is to participate in the Kingdom as well. What are the opportunities I had today to help and participate in God’s plan to help sustain others that I missed or avoided or shrunk away from?
• When I pass someone on the street asking for money, do I just toss them a coin or do I spend time to find out what they need and who they are? Is there more that I can do? Even talking to them and treating them as a friend is a form of welcoming them into the community and respect for a brother or sister – something they likely do not feel.
5) Concluding Prayer
I observe Your instructions,
I love them dearly.
I observe Your precepts, Your judgments,
for all my ways are before You. (Ps 119:166-167)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Almighty God,
our hope and our strength,
without You we falter.
Help us to follow Christ
and to live according to Your will.
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 6:19-23
Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. "The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be."
3) Reflection
• In today’s Gospel we continue our reflection on the Sermon on the Mount. The last few days we have reflected on the practice of the three works of piety: almsgiving (Mt 6:1-4), prayer (Mt 6:5-15), and fasting (Mt 6:16-18). Today’s and tomorrow’s Gospel presents four recommendations on the relationship with material goods, clearly explaining how to live the poverty of the first Beatitude: (a) not to accumulate (Mt 6:19-21); (b) to have a correct idea of material goods (Mt 6:22-23); (c) to not serve two masters (Mt 6:24); (d) to abandon oneself to Divine Providence (Mt 6:25-34). Today’s Gospel presents the first two recommendations: not to accumulate goods (6:19-21) and not to look at the world with diseased eyes (6:22-23).
• Matthew 6:19-21: Do not accumulate treasures on earth. If, for example, today on TV, it is announced that next month sugar and coffee will be lacking in the market, we might all buy the most coffee and sugar we can. We accumulate because we lack trust. During the forty years in the desert, the people were tested to see if they were capable of observing God’s Law (Ex 16:4). The test consisted of this: to see if they were capable of gathering only the necessary manna for a single day and not accumulate for the following day. Jesus says: “Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and woodworm destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworm destroys them and thieves cannot break in and steal. What does it mean to store up treasures in heaven? It is a question of knowing where I place the basis of my existence. If I place it on material goods of this earth, I always run the danger of losing what I have stored up. If I place the basis in God, nobody will be able to destroy it and I will have interior freedom to share with others what I possess. In order that this may be possible and feasible it is important to reach a community life which will favor sharing and reciprocal help, and in which the greatest richness or the treasure is not material riches, but rather the richness or the treasure of fraternal living together born from the certainty brought by Jesus: God is Father and Mother of all. Because there, where your treasure is, is your heart.
• Matthew 6:22-23: The light of your body is the eye. To understand what Jesus asks it is necessary to have new eyes. Jesus is demanding and asks very much; do not store up (6:19-21), do not serve God and money together (6:24), do not worry about what you are to eat or drink (6:25-34). These demanding recommendations have something to do with that part of human life where people are anguished and worried. It also forms a part of the Sermon on the Mount that is more difficult to understand and practice. This is why Jesus says: “If your eye is diseased ....". Some translate this as diseased eye and healthy eye. Others translate as mean or poor eye and generous eye. It is the same, in reality, the worse sickness that one can imagine is a person closed up in herself and in her goods and who trusts only worldly things. It is the sickness of being stingy! Anyone who looks at life with this eye lives in sadness and in darkness. The medicine to cure this sickness is conversion, a change of mentality and ideology. To place the basis of life on God allows our look to become generous and life becomes luminous, because it makes sharing and fraternity emerge.
•Jesus wants a radical change. He wants the observance of the Law of the sabbatical year, where it is said that in the community of believers there cannot be poor (Dt 15:4). Human living together should be organized in such a way that a person should not have to worry about food and drink, about dress and house, about health and education (Mt 6:25-34). But this is possible if we all seek the kingdom of God and His justice first (Mt 6:33). The kingdom of God means to permit God to reign: it is to imitate God (Mt 5:48). The imitation of God leads to a just sharing of goods and of creative love, which brings about a true fraternity. Divine Providence can be mediated by the fraternal organization. It is only in this way that it will be possible to eliminate any worry or concern for tomorrow (Mt 6:34).
4) Personal questions
• We are stewards of what God gives us and He tells us not to store up these goods for ourselves. How do I manage this in real life? What have I stored up? Should I share a little part or everything?
• When I share, or give to others, do I give a little and keep most of it, or give most and keep only what I need for the day?
• In giving, the Church talks of time, talent, and treasure. What would be ways of hoarding these instead of sharing them? Are there other things from God to be given to others? Do I share a little and enjoy the most for myself?
5) Concluding Prayer
For Yahweh has chosen Zion,
He has desired it as a home.
Here shall I rest for evermore,
here shall I make My home as I have wished. (Ps 132:13-14)
1) OPENING PRAYER
Lord God,
You speak Your mighty word to us,
but we cannot hear it
unless it stirs our lives
and is spoken in human terms.
Keep speaking Your word to us, Lord,
and open our hearts to it,
that it may bear fruit in us
when we do Your will
and carry out what we are sent to do.
We ask You this through Your living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
2) GOSPEL READING - MATTHEW 6:7-15
Jesus said to his disciples: "In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. "This is how you are to pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. "If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."
3) REFLECTION
There are two versions of the Our Father: Luke (Lk 11:1-4) and Matthew (Mt 6:7-13). In Luke, the Our Father is shorter. Luke writes for the communities which came from Paganism. In Matthew the Our Father is found in the Discourse on the Mountain, in the part where Jesus orientates the disciples in the practice of the three works of piety: alms (Mt 6:1-4), prayer (Mt 6:5-15) and fasting (Mt6:16-18). The Our Father forms part of a catechesis for the converted Jews. They were accustomed to pray, but had some vices which Matthew tries to correct.
Matthew 6:7-8: The faults to be corrected. Jesus criticizes the people for whom prayer was a repetition of a magic formula, strong words addressed to God to oblige Him to respond to our needs. The acceptance of our prayer by God does not depend on the repetition of words, but on God’s goodness, on God who is love and mercy. He wants our good and knows our needs even before we pray to Him.
Matthew 6:9a: The first words: Our Father, Abba Father, is the name which Jesus uses to address Himself to God. It reveals the new relationship with God that should characterize the life of the communities (Ga 4:6; Rm 8:15). We say Our Father and not My Father . The adjective places the accent on the awareness or knowledge that we all belong to the great human family of all races and creeds. To pray to the Father is to enter in intimacy with Him. It also means to be sensitive to the cry of all the brothers and sisters who cry for their daily bread. It means to seek in the first place the Kingdom of God. The experience of God as our Father is the foundation of universal fraternity.
Matthew 6:9b-10: Three requests for the cause of God: The Name, the Kingdom, the Will. In the first part we ask that our relationship with God may be re-established again. To sanctify His name: The name JAHVE means I am with you! God knows. In this name He makes Himself known (Ex 3:11-15). The name of God is sanctified when it is used with faith and not with magic; when it is used according to its true objective, not for oppression but for the liberty or freedom of the people and for the construction of the Kingdom. The coming of the Kingdom: The only Lord and King of life is God (Is 45:21; 46:9). The coming of the Kingdom is the fulfillment of all the hopes and promises. It is life in plenitude, the overcoming of frustration suffered with human kings and governments. This Kingdom will come when the Will of God will be fully accomplished. To do His will: The will of God is expressed in His Law. His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. In Heaven the sun and the stars obey the laws of their orbit and create the order of the universe (Is 48:12-13). The observance of the law of God will be a source of order and well-being for human life.
Matthew 6:11-13: Four petitions for the cause of the brothers: Bread, Pardon, Victory, Liberty. In the second part of the Our Father we ask that the relationship among persons may be restored. The four requests show how necessary it is to transform or change the structures of the community and society in order that all the sons and daughters of God may have the same dignity. The daily bread. In Exodus the people received the manna in the desert every day (Ex 16:35). Divine Providence passed through the fraternal organization, the sharing. Jesus invites us to live a new Exodus, a new fraternal way of living together which will guarantee the daily bread for all (Mt 6:34-44; Jo 6:48-51). Forgive us our debts: Every 50 years, the Jubilee Year obliged people to forgive their debts. It was a new beginning (Lv 25:8-55). Jesus announces a new Jubilee Year, a year of grace from the Lord (Lk 4:19). The Gospel wants to begin everything anew! Do not lead us into temptation, do not put us to the test: In Exodus, people were tempted and fell (Dt 9:6-12). The people complained and wanted to go back (Ex 16:3; 17:3). In the new Exodus, the temptation will be overcome by the strength which people receive from God (I Co 10:12-13). Deliver us from evil: The Evil One is Satan, who draws away from God and is a cause of scandal. He succeeds in entering in Peter (Mt 16:23) and to tempt Jesus in the desert. Jesus overcomes him (Mt 4:1-11). He tells us: Courage, I have conquered the world! (Jn 16:33).
Matthew 6:14-15: Anyone who does not forgive will not be forgiven. In praying the Our Father, we pronounce the phrase which condemns us or absolves us. We say: Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass us (Mt 6:12). We offer God the measure of pardon that we want. If we forgive very much, He will forgive us very much. If we forgive little, He will forgive little. If we do not forgive, He will not forgive us.
4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS
Jesus prayer says forgive our debts . In some countries it is translated as forgive our offenses . What is easier to forgive, the offenses or to forgive the debts?
Christian nations of the Northern Hemisphere (Europe and USA) pray everyday: Forgive our debts as we forgive those who are in debt to us! But they do not forgive the external debt of poor countries of the Third World. How can we explain this terrible contradiction, source of impoverishment of millions of people?
Debt, in the context of society, is not only money. In fact, in referring to people who have served time in jail we say “they have paid their debt to society”. Do we accept these people back into society? Not only have they paid their “debt”, they are often treated as having not been forgiven.
How do we forgive others in terms of immigration, documented or not, and accept them into our communities?
5) CONCLUDING PRAYER
Proclaim with me the greatness of Yahweh,
let us acclaim His name together.
I seek Yahweh and He answers me,
frees me from all my fears. (Ps 34,3-4)
1) Opening prayer
Almighty God,
our hope and our strength,
without You we falter.
Help us to follow Christ
and to live according to Your will.
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 6:1-6,16-18
Jesus said to his disciples: "Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. "When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to others to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you."
3) Reflection
• The Gospel of today continues the meditation on the Sermon on the Mount. In the previous days we have reflected at length on the message of chapter 5 of Matthew’s Gospel. In today’s Gospel, and the following days, we meditate on the message of chapter 6 of this Gospel. The sequence of chapters 5 and 6 can help us to understand it. The following is the schema:
Matthew 5:13-12: The Beatitudes: solemn opening of the new Law
Matthew 5:13-16: The new presence in the world: Salt of the earth and light of the world
Matthew 5:17-19: The new practice of justice; relationship with the ancient law
Matthew 5:20-48: The new practice of justice: observing the new Law.
Matthew 6:1-4: The new practice of piety: alms
Matthew 6:5-15: The new practice of the works of piety: prayer
Matthew 6:16-18: The new practice of the works of piety: fasting
Matthew 6:19-21: New relationship to material goods: do not accumulate
Matthew 6:22-23: New relationship to material goods: correct vision
Matthew 6:24: New relationship to material goods: God and money
Matthew 6:25-34: New relationship to material goods: abandonment to Providence.
Today’s Gospel treats three themes: almsgiving (6:1-4), prayer (6:5-6) and fasting (6:16-18). These are three works of piety of the Jews.
• Matthew 6:1: Be careful not to parade your uprightness to attract attention. Jesus criticizes those who do good works to be seen by others (Mt 6:1). Jesus says to build up interior security not in what we do for God, but in what God does for us. From the advice that He gives comes a new type of relationship with God: “Your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you” (Mt 6:4). "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt 6:8). "If you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive your failings” (Mt 6:14). It is a new way which opens itself now to have access to the heart of God our Father. Jesus does not allow the practice of justice and piety to be used as a means for self promotion before God and before the community (Mt 6:2,5,16).
• Matthew 6:2-4: How to practice almsgiving. To give alms is a way of sharing, and highly recommended by the first Christians (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35). The person who practices almsgiving and sharing to promote themselves before others merits exclusion from the community, as it happened to Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5:1-11). Today, in society as well as in the Church, there are people who make great publicity of the good that they do for others. Jesus asks the contrary: do good in such a way that the left hand does not know what the right hand does. It is the total detachment and the total gift in total gratuity of the love which believes in God the Father and imitates all that He does.
• Matthew 6:5-6: How to practice prayer. Prayer places the person in direct relationship with God. Some Pharisees transformed prayer into an occasion to show themselves before others. At that time, when the trumpet sounded at the three moments of prayer; morning, noon and evening, they should stop where they were to pray. There were people who sought to be in the corners in public places, in such a way that everybody would see that they were praying. Well, such an attitude perverts our relationship with God. This is false and has no sense. This is why Jesus says that it is better to close up ourselves in our rooms to pray in secret, maintaining the authenticity of the relationship. God sees you even in secret, and He always listens to you. It is a question of a personal prayer, not of a community prayer.
• Matthew 6:16-18: How to practice fasting. At that time the practice of fasting was accompanied by some very visible external gestures: not to wash one’s face, not to comb one’s hair, to wear sober dress. These were visible signs of fasting. Jesus criticizes this form of fasting and orders the contrary, so others cannot be aware that you are fasting: bathe, use perfume, and comb your hair well. In this way, only your Father who sees in secret knows that you are fasting and He will reward you.
4) Personal questions
• When you pray where others can see you, such as at Mass, do you make a show of your praying, or do you do it humbly and without grand showy gestures?
• When you give or help someone, either at the collection, or on the street, or near others, do you talk louder or make a show of it, or do you become quieter and more private with the other person?
• It is rare these days that anyone fasts and also goes out in the manner Jesus describes. But, we have other ways to do that. When giving, or doing some manner of sacrifice for others, do you complain, or groan to others about it, or give subtle clues that you are doing this thing?
5) Concluding Prayer
Yahweh, what quantities of good things You have in store
for those who fear You,
and bestow on those who make You their refuge,
for all humanity to see. (Ps 31:19)
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1) OPENING PRAYER
Lord God, from You comes the initiative of love.
You seek us out and You tell us:
I am your God; you are my people.
You love us in Jesus Christ, Your Son.
God, may our response of love
go far beyond the demands of any law.
May we seek You and commune with You
in the deepest of our being
and may we express our gratitude to You
by going to our neighbor
with a love that is spontaneous like Yours.
We ask You this through Christ our Lord.
2) GOSPEL READING - MATTHEW 5:43-48
Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."
3) REFLECTION
In today’s Gospel we see how Jesus has interpreted the commandment “You shall not kill” in such a way that its observance leads to the practice of love. Besides saying “You shall not kill” (Mt 5:21), Jesus quoted four other commandments of the ancient law: you shall not commit adultery (Mt 5:27), you shall not bear false witness (Mt 5:33), eye for eye, and tooth for tooth (Mt 5:38) and, in today s Gospel, you shall love your neighbor and will hate your enemy (Mt 5:43), five times, Jesus criticizes and completes the ancient way of observing these commandments and indicates the new way to attain the objective of the law, which is the practice of love (Mt 5:22-26; 5:28-32; 5:34-37; 5:39-42; 5:44-48).
Love your enemies. In today's Gospel Jesus quotes the ancient law which says: You will love your neighbor and hate your enemy . This text is not found like this in the Old Testament. It is more a question of the mentality of the time, according to which there was no problem if a person hated his enemy. Jesus was not in agreement and says: But I tell you: if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must, therefore, set no bounds to your love, just as your heavenly Father sets none to His . And Jesus gives us the proof. At the hour of His death He observed that which He preached.
Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing. A soldier takes the wrist of Jesus and places it on the arm of the cross, places a nail and begins to hammer it in. Several times. The blood was flowing down. The body of Jesus contorted with pain. The soldier, a mercenary, ignorant, far from knowing what he was doing, and of what was happening around him, continued to hammer as if it were a piece of the wall of his house and he had to put up a picture. At that moment Jesus prays for the soldier who tortures Him and addresses His prayer to the Father: Father, forgive them! They know not what they are doing! He loved the soldier who killed Him. Even wanting it with all their strength, the lack of humanity did not succeed to kill in Jesus His humanity and love! He will be imprisoned, they will spit on Him, will laugh and make fun of Him, they will make of Him a false king crowning Him with a crown of thorns, they will torture Him, will oblige Him to go through the streets like a criminal hearing the insults of the religious authority. On Calvary they will leave Him completely naked in the sight of all. But the poison of this lack of humanity did not succeed in suppressing the source of love and humanity which sprang from within Jesus. The water of the love which sprang from within was stronger than the poison of hatred which was coming from without. Looking at that soldier, Jesus felt sorrow and prayed for him and for all: Father, forgive them! They know not what they are doing! Jesus, in solidarity, almost excuses those who were ill treating and torturing Him. He was like a brother who goes with his murderous brothers before the judge and he, the victim of his own brothers, says to the judge: They are my brothers, you know they are ignorant. Forgive them! They will become better! He loved the enemy!
Be perfect as is your Father who is in Heaven. Jesus does not want to frighten, because this would be useless. He wants to change the system of human living altogether. The notion which He constructs comes from the new experience He has from God the Father, full of tenderness and who accepts all! The words of threat against the rich cannot be an occasion of revenge on the part of the poor. Jesus orders that we have a contrary attitude: Love your enemies! True love cannot depend on what one receives from others. Love should want the good of others independently of what they do for me. This is the way God s love is for us.
4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS
Am I capable to love my enemies?
Contemplate Jesus, in silence, who at the hour of His death, loved the enemy who killed Him.
5) CONCLUDING PRAYER
How blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the Law of Yahweh!
Blessed are those who observe His instructions,
who seek Him with all their hearts (Ps 119,1-2)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Almighty God,
our hope and our strength,
without You we falter.
Help us to follow Christ
and to live according to Your will.
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 5:38-42
Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow."
3) Reflection
• Today’s Gospel forms part of a small literary unit which goes from Mt 5:17 to Mt 5:48, which describes how to pass from the ancient justice of the Pharisees (Mt 5:20) to the new justice of the Kingdom of God (Mt 5:48). It describes how to go up to the Mount of the Beatitudes, from where Jesus announces the new Law of love. The great desire of the Pharisees was to live in justice, to be just before God. This is the desire of all of us. Just is the one who succeeds in living where God wants him/her to live. The Pharisees tried to attain justice through the strict observance of the Law. They thought that with their own effort they could succeed in being where God wanted them to be. Jesus takes a stand concerning this practice and announces the new justice which should surpass the justice of the Pharisees (Mt 5:20). In today’s Gospel we are almost reaching the summit of the mountain. Only a little is lacking. The summit is described in one sentence: “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48), on which we will meditate in tomorrow’s Gospel. Let us look closely at this last degree which is still lacking to reach the summit of the mountain, of which Saint John of the Cross says, “Here reign silence and love.”
• Matthew 5:38: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. Jesus quotes a text of the Ancient Law saying, “You have heard how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth!” He shortened the text, because the complete text said: “Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, blow for blow” (Ex 21:23-25). As in the previous cases, here Jesus makes a completely new rereading. The principle “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” was already found in the origin of the interpretation which the scribes made of the law. This principle should be overthrown, because it perverts and destroys the relationship among people and with God.
• Matthew 5:39ª: Do not give back evil for evil received. Jesus affirms exactly the contrary: “But I say to you do not offer resistance to the wicked.” When some violence is received, our natural reaction is to pay the other one with the same coin. Vengeance asks for “eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” Jesus asks to pay back the evil not with evil, but with good. Because if we do not know how to overcome the violence received, the spiral of violence will take up everything and we will not know what to do. Lamech said: For a wound received I will kill a man, and for a scar I would kill a young person. If the vengeance of Cain was worth seven, then Lamech will count for seventy-seven” (Gen 4:24). And it was precisely because of this terrible act of vengeance that everything ended in the confusion of the Tower of Babel. (Gen 11:1-9). Faithful to the teaching of Jesus, Paul writes in the letter to the Romans: “Never pay back evil with evil; let your concern be to do good to all men. Do not allow yourselves to be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:17.21). To be able to have this attitude it is necessary to have much faith in the possibility of recovery that the human being has. How can we do this in practice? Jesus offers four concrete examples.
• Matthew 5:39b-42: the four examples to overcome the spiral of violence. Jesus says: “rather (a) if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; (b) if anyone wishes to go to Law with you to get your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. (c) And if anyone requires you to go one mile, go two miles with him. (d) Give to anyone who asks you, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away” (Mt 5:40-42). How are these four affirmations to be understood? Jesus Himself helps us to understand. When the soldier hit Him on the cheek, He did not offer the other cheek explicitly and invite another strike. Rather, by not threatening or not blocking another blow, He still “offers” the other cheek. At the same time, He reacted with energy: “If there is some offense in what I said, point it out, but if not, why do you strike Me?” (Jn 18:23) Jesus does not teach us to be passive. Saint Paul thinks that paying evil with good “you will make others be ashamed” (Rom 12:20). This faith in the possibility to recover the human being is possible only beginning from the root which comes from the total gratuity of the creative love which God shows us in the life and the attitudes of Jesus.
4) Personal questions
• Have you ever felt within you such a great anger as to want to apply the vengeance “eye for eye, tooth for tooth”? What did you do to overcome this?
• In your daily life, how would you implement or act out the four examples in Matthew 5:39b-42?
• How can these affirmations of Jesus be applied to immigration and allowing immigration into the country?
• Many times, people will agree with affirmations such as these, and then give a BUT… and proclaim exclusions, exceptions, and limitations. Consider real-life modern situations that suggest an opportunity for “turning the other cheek”, “giving more than is asked”, eye for an eye”, etc. Do you too have a BUT, or ONLY IF limitation in your answer? Would Jesus say the same thing?
5) Concluding Prayer
Give ear to my words, Yahweh,
spare a thought for my sighing.
Listen to my cry for help,
my King and my God! To You I pray. (Ps 5:1-2)
1) OPENING PRAYER
God of mercy and compassion,
you challenge us to be responsible
for the good and the evil we do
and You call us to conversion.
God, help us to face ourselves
that we may not use flimsy excuses
for covering up our wrongs.
Make us honest with ourselves,
and aware that we can always count on Jesus Christ
to be our guide and strength on the road to You,
now and for ever.
2) GOSPEL READING - MATTHEW 5:20-26
Jesus said to his disciples: "I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven. "You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, raqa, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny."
3) REFLECTION
The text of today s Gospel forms part of a broader or more extensive whole: Mt 5:20 up to Mt 5:48. In these passages Matthew tells us how Jesus interprets and explains the Law of God. Five times He repeats the phrase: You have heard how it was said to our ancestors, in truth I tell you! (Mt 5:21. 27. 33.38. 43). Before, He had said: Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; no, I have come not to abolish, but to complete them (Mt 5:17). The attitude of Jesus before the Law is, at the same time, one of breaking and of continuity. He breaks away from the erroneous interpretations, but maintains firm the objective which the Law should attain: the practice of a greater justice, which is Love.
Matthew 5:20: An uprightness which surpasses that of the Pharisees. This first verse presents the general key of everything which follows in Matthew 5:20-48. The word Justice never appears in the Gospel of Mark, and it appears seven times in that of Matthew (Mt 3:15; 5:6.10.20; 6:1.33; 21:32). This has something to do with the situation of the communities for which Mark wrote. The religious ideal of the Jews of the time was to be just before God. The Pharisees taught: people attain justice before God when they succeed to observe all the norms of the law in all its details! This teaching generated a legalistic oppression and caused great anguish in the people because it was very difficult to be able to observe all the norms (cfr. Rm 7:21-24). This is why Matthew takes the words of Jesus on justice to show that it has to surpass the justice of the Pharisees (Mt, 5:20). According to Jesus, justice does not come from what I do for God in observing the law, but rather from what God does for me, accepting me as His son or as His daughter. The new ideal which Jesus proposes is the following: therefore, be perfect as is your Heavenly Father! (Mt 5:48). That means: you will be just before God when you try to accept and forgive people as God accepts and pardons me, in spite of my defects and sins.
By means of these five very concrete examples, Jesus shows us what to do in order to attain this greater justice which surpasses the justice of the and the Pharisees. As we can see, today’s Gospel takes the example of the new interpretation of the fifth commandment: You shall not kill! Jesus has revealed what God wanted when He gave this commandment to Moses.
Matthew 5:21-22: The law says: You shall not kill! (Ex 20:13). In order to observe fully this commandment it is not sufficient to avoid murdering. It is necessary to uproot from within everything which, in one way or another, can lead to murder, for example, anger, hatred, the desire to revenge, insult, and exploitation, etc.
Matthew 5:23-24. The perfect worship which God wants. In order to be accepted by God and to remain united to Him, it is necessary to reconcile oneself with brother and sister. Before the destruction of the Temple, in the year 70, when the Christian Jews participated in the pilgrimages in Jerusalem to present their offerings at the altar and to pay their promises, they always remembered this phrase of Jesus. In the year 80, at the time when Matthew wrote, the Temple and the Altar no longer existed. They had been destroyed by the Romans. The community and the communitarian celebration became the Temple and the Altar of God.
Matthew 5:25-26: To reconcile oneself. One of the points on which the Gospel of Matthew exists the most is reconciliation. That indicates that in the communities of that time, there were many tensions among the radical groups with diverse tendencies and sometimes even opposing ones. Nobody wanted to cede to the other. There was no dialogue. Matthew enlightens this situation with the words of Jesus on reconciliation which demands acceptance and understanding. The only sin that God does not forgive is our lack of pardon toward others (Mt 6:14). That is why one should try to reconcile yourself before it is too late!
4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS
Today there are many people who cry out for justice! What meaning does evangelical justice have for me?
How do I behave before those who do not accept me as I am? How did Jesus behave before those who did not accept Him?
5) CONCLUDING PRAYER
From the depths I call to You, Yahweh:
Lord, hear my cry.
Listen attentively to the sound of my pleading! (Ps 130,1-2)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Lord our God,
Your prophets remind us
in season and out of season
of our responsibilities toward You
and toward people.
When they disturb and upset us,
let it be a holy disturbance
that makes us restless, eager to do Your will
and to bring justice and love around us.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 5:17-19
Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven."
3) Reflection
• Today’s Gospel (Mt 5:17-19) teaches how to observe the law of God in such a way that its practice indicates in what its complete fulfillment consists (Mt 5:17-19). Matthew writes in order to help the communities of converted Jews to overcome the criticism of the brothers of their own race who accused them saying, “You are unfaithful to the Law of Moses.” Jesus Himself had been accused of infidelity to the Law of God. Matthew has the clarifying response of Jesus concerning His accusers. Thus, he gives some light to help the communities solve their problems.
• Using images of daily life, with simple and direct words, Jesus had said that the mission of the community, its reason for being, is to be salt and light! He had given some advice regarding each one of the two images. Then follow two or three brief verses of today’s Gospel.
• Matthew 5:17-18: Not one dot, nor one stroke is to disappear from the Law. There were several different tendencies in the communities of the first Christians. Some thought that it was not necessary to observe the laws of the Old Testament, because we are saved by faith in Jesus and not by the observance of the Law (Rm 3:21-26). Others accepted Jesus, the Messiah, but they did not accept the liberty of spirit with which some of the communities lived the presence of Jesus. They thought that being Jews they had to continue to observe the laws of the Old Testament (Acts 15:1,5). But there were Christians who lived so fully in the freedom of the Spirit, who no longer looked at the life of Jesus of Nazareth, nor to the Old Testament and they even went so far as to say, “Anathema Jesus!” (1 Cor 12:3). Observing these tensions, Matthew tries to find some balance between both extremes. The community should be a space where the balance can be attained and lived. The answer given by Jesus to those who criticized Him continued to be timely for the communities: “I have not come to abolish the law, but to complete it!” The communities could not be against the Law, nor could they close themselves off in the observance of the law. Like Jesus, they should advance, and show, in practice, what was the objective which the law wanted to attain in the life of people, that is, in the perfect practice of love.
• Matthew 5:19: Not one dot or stroke will disappear from the Law. It is for those who wanted to get rid of all the law that Matthew recalls the other parable of Jesus: “Anyone who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but the person who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” The great concern in Matthew’s Gospel is to show that the Old Testament, Jesus of Nazareth and the life in the Spirit cannot be separated. The three of them form part of the same and unique plan of God and communicate to us the certainty of faith: The God of Abraham and of Sarah is present in the midst of the community by faith in Jesus of Nazareth who sends us His Spirit.
4) Personal questions
• Laws are written in the negative: “thou shall not...”. Love is performed in the positive: as service, caring, helping. It is the same with virtues and vices, which each address in a positive and negative way. Take each Commandment and rewrite it in a positive way of action that conforms to an act of love. Can it be done? Can you do what it demands?
• What can we do today for our brothers and sisters who believe faith in Jesus does not demand action as well? How would you approach that attitude? Is yours a faith and a life that shows love in action, or would someone who observes you say they see talk, but not much action as well?
5) Concluding Prayer
Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem,
Zion, praise Your God.
For He gives strength to the bars of your gates,
He blesses your children within you. (Ps 145:12-13)
