June 12, 2025
Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 362
Reading 1
Brothers and sisters:
To this day, whenever Moses is read,
a veil lies over the hearts of the children of Israel,
but whenever a person turns to the Lord the veil is removed.
Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom.
All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
as from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy shown us,
we are not discouraged.
And even though our Gospel is veiled,
it is veiled for those who are perishing,
in whose case the god of this age
has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,
so that they may not see the light of the Gospel
of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord,
and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus.
For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness,
has shone in our hearts to bring to light
the knowledge of the glory of God
on the face of Jesus Christ.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm
85:9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14
R. (see 10b) The glory of the Lord will dwell in our
land.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD–for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. The glory of the Lord will dwell in our land.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. The glory of the Lord will dwell in our land.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.
R. The glory of the Lord will dwell in our land.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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 with him.
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."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061225.cfm
Commentary on 2
Corinthians 3:15—4:1,3-6
We continue the point that Paul was making yesterday. We
have a passage rich in meaning and full of allusions to the experience at Mount
Sinai. He continues telling the Corinthians that observance of the Law by
itself can only bring death, while the Spirit brings life.
…to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies
over their minds…
Paul now switches from the time of the covenant at Mount
Sinai to the present time. He is saying that the Israelites in the time of
Moses typify the Jews of the present time, and he may also be referring to some
Christians of Jewish origin, who still do not recognise the temporary nature of
the glory that was seen in Moses. As a result, when the writings of Moses are
read in the synagogue, a veil still prevents them recognising the temporary
nature of Moses’ glory. There is, as it were, a veil preventing their full
understanding.
When Moses read the Law to the people, he had to veil his
face because the people could not stand its brightness. But now, Paul says, the
veil is not on the face of Moses, but over the minds of the hearers who cannot
see that the message of Moses has been overtaken by the Word of Christ.
However, Paul says:
…when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
In Exodus, Moses appeared before God without the veil and
gazed on God’s face unprotected. Paul applies that passage to converts to
Christianity: when they turn to the Lord fully and authentically, the
impediment to their understanding is removed. They can look God in the face:
…the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is freedom.
The “Lord” to whom the Christian turns is the Spirit of whom
Paul has been speaking, the life-giving Spirit of the living God, the
inaugurator of the new covenant and ministry. He is also the Spirit of the
Christ. And the Spirit of Jesus is a spirit of real freedom, which enables one
to follow God’s truth, to love creatively and to become more alive every day.
This is in contrast to the smothering effect of the ‘ministry of death’ from
the old Law which brought so much condemnation:
And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of
the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same
image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, the
Spirit.
Here we have the veil image being used again. Christians
(Israelites from whom the veil has been removed) are like Moses, standing in
God’s presence, beholding and reflecting his glory. Through our ‘gazing’ at the
Lord we become transformed, conformed more and more to the likeness of Jesus, who
is himself the very Image of God. As Jesus said:
…whoever sees me sees him who sent me. (John
12:45)
The life-giving Spirit of God, who is also in Jesus, is
already present in the community where the transformation is already taking
place. The community is the Spirit-filled Body of Christ.
Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged
in this ministry, we do not lose heart.
A ministry of this sort generates confidence and
forthrightness, even when Paul—as at present—meets with criticism and opposition.
He is confident that the Spirit of God is with him and the work he is doing for
the gospel.
Paul now deals briefly with some of the criticism that is
aimed at him:
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those
who are perishing.
Here is the final application of the veil image. It seems
Paul is being criticised either for obscurity in his preaching, or for the way
in which he presents the Gospel (perhaps for his criticism of the Jewish
tradition, which is particularly resented by some who see Paul himself as a
once zealous Jew). He confidently asserts, however, that there is no veil over
his Gospel. If some fail to perceive its light, that is because of their lack
of belief. Paul says:
…the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,
to keep them from seeing clearly the light of the gospel of the glory of
Christ, who is the image of God.
The veil lies over their own eyes, a blindness induced by
Satan, “the god of this world”, and a sign that they are headed for
destruction.
The criticism of Paul is misdirected:
For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus
Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’s sake.
The light that is revealed in Paul’s preaching comes, not
from him, but from the glory of Christ of which he is the messenger. Far from
preaching himself, the preacher should always be a transparent medium through
whom Jesus is perceived. The preacher is a ‘slave’ of Jesus and not someone who
just uses the name of Jesus to draw attention to himself. As John the Baptist
said of Jesus:
He must increase, but I must decrease. (John
3:30)
Again from Paul:
For it is the God who said, “Light will shine out of
darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Here Paul alludes to his own dramatic calling when the light
shone from heaven on him as he went to Damascus to attack the Christians there.
That was the beginning of Paul’s call to serve the gospel of Jesus. Perhaps the
quotation is also an echo of the creation of light at the beginning of the Book
of Genesis (1:3), and Paul is presenting his apostolic ministry as a new
creation. There may also be an allusion to a passage from Isaiah:
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light… (Is 9:2)
Here Paul is suggesting his prophetic calling as servant of
the Lord and a light to the nations. And the purpose of his mission is to
reveal to others the glory of God visible on the face of Jesus Christ through
his life, death and resurrection.
On the one hand, we too, like Moses and Paul, are called to
reflect the brightness of God and, at the same time, we ourselves become
brighter and brighter as we grow more and more into the image of God. And our
light is not, as Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, meant to dazzle or
turn people’s gaze away but rather to help them realise the brightness of God
himself and lead them on to him:
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so
that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Matt
5:16)
Comments Off
Commentary on
Matthew 5:20-26
In today’s reading continuing the Sermon on the Mount, what
Jesus means by saying that he has not come to abolish the old Law but to
transcend it is made clear. He gives six different examples of how a number of
Old Testament sayings are to be understood by his followers. In fact, he says
that if we wish to be his followers and do his work we must move forward to the
deeper level of understanding he proposes:
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of
the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
It is clear from what we see of the scribes and Pharisees in
the Gospels, that for them, religious virtue consisted in the most exact
external observance of every detail of Jewish Law. The more perfect the
observance of the letter of the Law, the closer one was to God. Jesus
challenged that understanding and it led to serious confrontations with the
religious leadership.
Of course, the way of the scribes and Pharisees has its
attractions. It is a much easier way to measure one’s obedience to God. And one
finds the same among other religions today. Among Christians (including
Catholics), one finds that there are some people who are very anxious to know
whether a certain action ‘is a sin’ or not. Such an approach leads in many
cases to scrupulosity and fear, finding sin even in minutiae. God becomes a
menacing shadow ready to strike at the smallest wrongdoing.
When speaking of the Jewish law, the first example Jesus
gives is of the commandment:
You shall not murder [kill]. (Exodus 20:13)
Jesus’ understanding of this commandment goes far beyond the
actual killing of another person. He extends it even to anger and abusive
language. And anger can often be totally locked inside and invisible to an
outsider. Jesus says:
But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or
sister, you will be liable to judgment, and if you insult a brother or sister,
you will be liable to the council, and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be
liable to the hell of fire.
In other words, Jesus excludes any kind of violent behaviour
towards a brother or sister, either in action, or word, or even thought.
He also links our interpersonal behaviour to our
relationship to God. It is no good, then, piously bringing our offering to the
altar in the Temple and presenting it to God while we are—through our own
fault—in conflict with a brother or sister. We cannot separate our relationship
with God from that which we have with a brother or sister. This will be spelt
out in other parts of the Gospel. Before we make our offering, we must first be
reconciled with our offended brother or sister and only then, after the injury
has been healed, make our offering. Jesus also recommends early reconciliation
if only to avoid greater troubles later on. It is not worth going to jail
simply out of hatred or anger towards another.
All this is very relevant to us. Whenever we celebrate the
Eucharist, we should recall what Jesus says in this text and put it into
practice. Before we make our offering of the bread and wine, we are invited, at
the beginning of the Eucharist, to confess our sins to God and to the gathered
community:
I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and
sisters, that I have sinned…
How often do we really think about what we are saying at
this time?
Again, before sharing with others in the Body and Blood of
the Lord, we pray:
…forgive us our sins as we forgive those who offend us…
And we are also invited to make a sign of peace with all
those around us. For how can we share in the Body and Blood of the Lord if we
are at enmity with a brother or sister who is a member of that same Body? But
again, so often this is just an empty gesture, with very little real meaning
and, for the most part, made to someone we do not even know. Let us work to put
the meaning back into what can so easily degenerate into a meaningless ritual.
Comments Off
https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1105g/
Thursday, June 12,
2025
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 forever.
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."
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: 2048. 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!
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?
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)
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét