Sunday, February 19, 2017

Feb 19 - 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

+ Our gospel passage today reminds us that Jesus came to be the fulfillment of the Law of God; fulfillment and not replacement: the essence of God’s ordering of things would always be in effect, because they are from the very essence of creation as given by God. But until God could come himself – in person – in the Person of Jesus – to fully explain it and demonstrate it: a more rudimentary sort of expression of it would have to suffice. And so we have the commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai and others that came from God’s interaction with the Patriarchs and the Prophets. It has always been clear where the right path was: but a fuller expounding on details simply had to wait.

Our gospel passage today is very compelling: it illustrates Jesus’ divine power over the law: he cites many examples on how “just keeping the law” had been okay in the past: but now the time has come for him (who truly is the only one who has the authority to do it) to introduce these words: “but I say to you:”offer no resistance to one who is evil, be extravagant in your generosity – love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father – be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. And as it says in the Book of Leviticus in the first reading: Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy! And prove it by loving your neighbor as yourself!

This is a tall order: but because Jesus commands it: the grace will always be there to accomplish it, this he promises. We must remember, as St. Paul tells the Corinthians: we are temples of God, having the Spirit of God dwelling in us, thereby making us possessions of Christ and of his Father! What a company we are a part of! May we thus be always wise in the things of God – who is not only our Father, but also our goal – and not of the things of this world that will bring us ruin!

May we continue to strive daily to keep the word of Christ, so that the love of God will be perfected in us: and we will be pleasing children to our heavenly Father – and he will show us his kindness and mercy with great abundance!

God bless us, and be with us each day of our life, no matter what the future might hold.


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