Commentary
Sunday, 2/23/2020, Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Love is Holy
First Reading Commentary: Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
The LORD told Moses to speak to the Israelite community telling them to be holy for the LORD is holy. Simply obeying the commandments was not enough. God was telling the Israelites to be like Him. God wanted the Israelites to adopt His ways and to treat each other in the same way that He treated them and God wanted the Israelites to have as much love for each other as He had for them.
This message became clear as the LORD commanded the Israelites to not bear hatred in their hearts. In other words, do not hold onto grudges. It is very difficult to have love for someone and even more difficult to express love for someone if you are holding onto a grudge. That grudge will grow into hatred for that person.
God remembers the sins which we do not confess and for which we do not repent but God does not hold grudges. We cannot be like God living according to His ways if we hold grudges no matter how hard we may try.
Sometimes, it is proper for us to make restitution for our offenses against our neighbor. Think of it as going to Confession and doing penance. God tells us that we may have to make restitution but God also says not to incur sin. The message here is made very clear as God says, “Take no revenge.”
An eye for an eye is not okay with God and Jesus will tell us that in today’s gospel. It is not okay for us to plot retaliation, physical or non-physical, against another person because of what they have done against us.
When the LORD told Moses to deliver this commandment to the Israelites, it was His intent that the Israelites practice this commandment with each other. Jesus would later give us all the same commandment but with the intent that we practice it with everyone. The commandment is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Act Like the Holy Temples that We Are
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:16-23
Paul reminds us that we are temples of God because the Spirit dwells within us. The Spirit comes to us in a special way by our baptism and His presence within us is strengthened in Confirmation. But that does not mean that God is not with those who are never baptized or confirmed. God made us in His image and because of that, there is inherent good in each of us.
We all feel God’s presence in varying degrees and in different ways even though some of us may not realize it. Consider this: There is a never-ending war between good and evil and that war is constantly played out in the thoughts of our minds. Anytime we struggle with making a choice between doing something right or wrong, we are actively engaged in that war. It is the evil one who is relentless in tempting us to do evil. But it is the Spirit working within our conscience who urges us to do good instead.
We were created to be temples of the Spirit and Paul tells us that if we destroy our temple, God will destroy us. The evil one would like nothing more than to see the destruction of God’s most favored creation. Therefore, when we fall into sin, especially those sins which involve the destruction of our bodies as temples, we fall right into the devil’s plans.
No one is evil by nature so no one wants to fall into the snares of the devil and yet we all sin. That is because the devil finds our weak spots and exploits them. He gets into our heads and twists our thoughts and confuses our reasoning so that we believe that wrong is right.
I have commented before that the devil can take a bag of Sugar, Honey and Iced Tea and make it look so good that we simply cannot be without it. Unfortunately, the wisdom of the world comes from that bag of _ _ _ _. But God knows this which is why Paul tells us that the wisdom of the world is foolishness in the eyes of God. Paul says, “So let no one boast about human beings.” In other words, we should not place worldly wisdom above the wisdom of God.
Anyone who has or has ever had teenagers knows what it is like to have their child reach that age where they think that they know everything and that parents know nothing. They are our children and they belong to us but they sure can be tough to reach when they go through that period in life.
But don’t hold it against them. We did it to our parents and we are all God’s children and we do it to Him. Don’t disagree unless you are like Mary and her Son—totally incapable of sin. However, we should not give up on our children because God does not give up on us. All we have, to do is admit to the error of our ways and ask for forgiveness with sincere remorse in our hearts and God will be there with open arms because we belong to Him and His love cannot be taken away.
Love Thy Neighbor
Gospel Commentary: Matthew 5:38-48
Today’s gospel is a continuation of last week’s gospel and once again, Jesus focuses His message on the Second Greatest Commandment: “You shall love thy neighbor as you love yourself.” There are two parts to this gospel which focus on forgiving and the perfection that God wants from us.
It’s All about Forgiving
Commentary for Matthew 5:38-42
Jesus was referring to the old law when he said to the disciples, “…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…” This is the gospel where Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, to give more to someone who takes something from us, to go the extra mile to please someone, to give to the one who asks of you and to not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.
Most people do not make the connection that when Jesus said, “…give to the one who asks” that He was also telling us to be good citizens. During the time that Jesus said these things to the disciples, it was lawful for the Romans to seize property. Jesus was saying, give it to them. If that is the law, obey it.
This is a very difficult gospel to live by. It is all about forgiving each other for their trespasses against us. Sound familiar? I remember one of my former pastors saying in a homily that forgiving someone is probably the most difficult thing for any of us to do and yet that is exactly what Jesus commands us to do.
When someone offends us in any way, we are often times hurt and become angry. We have a right to feel the way that we do but the way that we handle our anger is what can get us into trouble. Carrying a grudge will surely get us into trouble. We were warned about that last week when Jesus told us to settle our disputes before we bring our gifts to the altar.
When we carry a grudge, not only are we refusing to forgive, we also make ourselves miserable and then we end up hurting ourselves. The weight of the grudge makes us miserable and we position ourselves to, loose favor with God and that is never a good thing.
The evil one will do anything to keep us from getting to the Kingdom. He knows that if we refuse to forgive, we are in violation of the Second Greatest Commandment. The devil knows that we cannot forgive someone if we are holding a grudge against them. He knows that if we let our anger get the best of us, our anger can lead us into a mortal sin. The devil knows all of these things and constantly fills our minds with ideas which may seem justified but will only place us at odds against God.
Justified is the operative word in what I just said. Think about it: If you refuse to forgive someone, you have passed judgment on them. It is not our place to judge. That right belongs to Christ and no one else. When we judge, we attempt to do His job and we will get ourselves into serious trouble every time.
Sometime ago, I wrote a commentary and quoted Evangelist Richard Lane who said, “Sometimes we have to walk up to the devil and punch him dead in his mouth and tell him, ‘In the name of Jesus, get behind me Satin. You will not ________fill in the blank_________.’” This is what you should do when you find yourself struggling with forgiving someone. Then pray to God and ask for help. He will not ignore you.
It is so simple and so easy and yet it is almost always the very last thing to cross our minds when we are in the height of being downright mad at someone. I know! So, all we can do is keep it in prayer and as I always say, pray to the Father, asking Him to send the Spirit in the name of the Son. Amen.
Consider this: God gets angry with us for our sins but because of His never-ending love for us, God always forgives us. All we have to do is say, “I’m sorry” with a sincere heart and we are forgiven. Just like that. God wants nothing more than for us to treat each other in the same way that he treats us.
The Perfection God Seeks
Commentary: Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus said, “You have heard it 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…So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
It was customary under the old law for one to hate their enemy. The enemies of the Jews were not thought of as children of God. Jesus commands us to go beyond the old law because we are all God’s children and God treats us all the same. The sun shines on everyone and the rain falls for everyone’s benefit. If we hate someone, we hate a child of God and disobey the Second Greatest Commandment. Jesus commands us to pray for our enemies instead.
Jesus points out that the tax collectors love those who love them and that the pagans greet their brothers therefore; there is nothing special about either act. During the time of Jesus, someone from the same country was considered a brother. The point is that we are all brothers and sisters. It is not normal and it is wrong to hate your brother or sister. The message in this gospel is exactly why we should welcome migrants and refugees—they are our brothers and sisters.
There are racists in the world who will swear that they are Christians. Last Sunday, Jesus told us not to swear and, in my commentary, I said that swearing always insinuates a lie. Racism is a very deliberate choice to hate and should not be confused with prejudice which is the fear associated with not knowing or understanding something or someone. Because racism is a deliberate choice, one cannot be a racist and declare themselves to be Christian without telling a lie.
If someone offends us, we should try to reconcile with them. If all attempts fail and our brother or sister remains our enemy, then we must obey the commandment that Jesus gives us today and pray for them.
When Jesus tells us in this gospel, to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, He does not mean for us to be perfect in every way. That is not possible because only God can be and is perfect in every way. Jesus means for us to be perfect in our acceptance of each other as children of God, our brothers and sisters, and to love each other as such.
Being perfect means that our love is sincere, true and does not discriminate. Being perfect like the Father means that we accept everyone as a brother or sister in the same way that God accepts us.
