June 14, 2025
Saturday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 364
Reading 1
Brothers and sisters:
The love of Christ impels us,
once we have come to the conviction that one died for all;
therefore, all have died.
He indeed died for all,
so that those who live might no longer live for themselves
but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh;
even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh,
yet now we know him so no longer.
So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.
And all this is from God,
who has reconciled us to himself through Christ
and given us the ministry of reconciliation,
namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
not counting their trespasses against them
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
So we are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm
103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
R.(8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Incline my heart, O God, to your decrees;
and favor me with your law.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
"You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
Do not take a false oath,
but make good to the Lord all that you vow.
But I say to you, do not swear at all;
not by heaven, for it is God's throne;
nor by the earth, for it is his footstool;
nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Do not swear by your head,
for you cannot make a single hair white or black.
Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.'
Anything more is from the Evil One."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061425.cfm
Commentary on 2
Corinthians 5:14-21
Paul continues in his own defence. If his behaviour seemed
objectionable, it was simply because he was acting in and through the Lord. But
he speaks in a spirit not of antagonism, but of reconciliation. He tells the
Corinthians of the force that is behind everything he does and says:
For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are
convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for
all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for the one
who for their sake died and was raised.
Christ’s love for us was so great that he gave his life so
that we might have life. He said:
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life
for one’s friends. (John 15:13)
But our response to that is for each one of us to die to all
self-seeking and, like Christ and with Christ, give our lives in love for
others. This is precisely what Paul is trying to do.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human
point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we
no longer know him in that way.
The death of the man Jesus has produced a whole new way of
seeing other people. A natural or spontaneous way of seeing people is replaced
by a new way according to the Spirit. In another context, Paul speaks of how
Jesus was seen by Jews and Gentiles as someone who was weak, powerless, foolish
and mortal but, to those with the eyes of faith, we see the wisdom, the power
and the life of God. The paradox can be seen in himself. He is filled with the
glory of Christ and yet appears so weak and vulnerable.
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:
everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!
Rabbis used to speak of a “new creation” to describe the
effect of a proselyte or convert entering the Jewish faith, or of the remission
of sins on the Day of Atonement. The “new things” that have come are the new
covenant which Jesus has inaugurated. The person baptised into the Christian
faith and who lives according to the gospel becomes, in a real sense, a new
person, driven by a new vision of life.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself
through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in
Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses
against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
God does not count our wrongdoings. By responding to him in
love we are seen as justified in God’s sight, and this contrasts with the
covenant that condemned.
This is Paul’s way of expressing the mission Jesus gave to
his disciples after the Resurrection:
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them;
if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. (John 20:23)
and
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
children of God. (Matt 5:9)
The mission of the Kingdom is to bring the people of the
world together in truth, love, justice and peace. It is not just a question of
‘converting’ people to our ‘religion’, but ultimately of bringing them back
into the loving arms of God. That is what life is about.
So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his
appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God.
Paul sees himself as an ambassador of God’s reconciliation
and, as God’s emissary, he begs the Corinthians to become reconciled to God.
For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
This is a very striking phrase, not to be taken literally.
But in dying as a criminal on the cross and among sinners, he seemed to be one
of them, but in fact it was he who liberated us from sin—especially our own
sin—and numbered us among God’s own people. Similarly, in Galatians we read:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming
a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”… (Gal
3:13)
And in Romans:
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh,
could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to
deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh…
(Rom 8:3)
Paul does not deny that he has perhaps behaved in ways which
angered some of the Corinthian Christians, perhaps the Jews among them most of
all, but he sees no point in carrying on a vendetta. In the spirit of Christ,
the only way forward is for peace and reconciliation.
Perhaps we could see if we are in a similar situation right
now and how we can go about bringing healing to strained relationships. And, in
general, our mission as Christians is to be agents of reconciliation wherever
we find ourselves—again because:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
children of God.
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Commentary on
Matthew 5:33-37
Today’s third example from the Sermon on the Mount is of
Jesus’ ‘filling out’ the meaning of the Law based on the instruction, saying:
You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you
have made to the Lord.
In the Book of Numbers we read:
When a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to
bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to
all that proceeds out of his mouth. (Num 30:2)
Jesus goes far beyond this requirement. He simply tells us
to stop making oaths altogether. The true follower of Christ does not need to
take oaths or to swear on anything—however sacred—to guarantee the truth of his
words. Jesus says:
Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more
than this comes from the evil one.
The Christian should be a person of known integrity. He can
be taken at his word and no further guarantee is required. It is nice to be
known as such a person. Truth should be our second name.
Sometimes, of course, people may not be entitled to the
whole truth. In fact, honour may require us even to sacrifice our life rather
than reveal something that might put another person in danger, but we should never
be guilty of positively deceiving another.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1107g/
Saturday,
June 14, 2025
Ordinary
Time
Opening Prayer
God of wisdom and love, source of all good,
send Your Spirit to teach us
Your truth and guide our actions in Your way of peace.
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.
Gospel Reading - Matthew 5: 33-37
Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was
said to your ancestors, Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all
that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is
God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for
it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot
make a single hair white or black. Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No'
mean 'No.' Anything more is from the Evil One."
Reflection
In today’s Gospel, Jesus rereads the commandment: “Do not
commit perjury.” And here also He surpasses the letter, concerning the spirit
of the law, and seeks to indicate the ultimate goal of this commandment: to
attain total transparency in relationships among people. Here we can apply what
we said concerning the two commandments “Do not kill” and “Do not commit adultery.”
It is a question of a new way of interpreting and setting into practice the law
of Moses, starting from the new experience of God the Father which Jesus has
brought to us. He rereads the law beginning with the intention that God had in
proclaiming it centuries ago on Mount Sinai.
•
Matthew 5: 33: It was said to our ancestors: you
must not swear. The Law of the Old Testament said, “Do not commit perjury” and
it added that the person should swear for the Lord. In the Psalms it is said
that “one can go up to the Mountain of Yahweh and reach the holy place, if he
has innocent hands and a pure heart, and does not confide in idols, nor swear
in order to deceive” (Ps 24: 4). The same thing is said in other parts of the
Old Testament (Eccl 5: 3-4), because one must be able to trust the words of
others. In order to promote this reciprocal trust, tradition had invented the
help of the oath. In order to strengthen one’s own word, the person would swear
on someone or on something which was greater than he and who could punish him
if he did not do what he had promised. Things continue to be like this up to
the present time. Whether in the Church or in society, there are some moments
and occasions which demand a solemn oath from people. In the final analysis,
the oath is the expression of the conviction that nobody can completely trust
the word of another.
•
Matthew 5: 34-36: But I say to you: do not
swear. Jesus wants to heal this defect. It is not enough “not to swear.” He
goes beyond and affirms: “But I say to you: do not swear at all: either by
heaven, since that is God’s throne; or by earth, since that is His footstool,
or by Jerusalem, since that is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your
own head either, since you cannot turn a single hair white or black. All you
need to say is ‘Yes’ if you mean yes, and ‘No’ if you mean no. Anything more
than this comes from the Evil One.” They would swear on heaven and on earth, on
the city of Jerusalem, on their own head. Jesus shows that all that does not
cure the pain and suffering from the lack of transparency and trust among
people. What is the solution which He proposes?
•
Matthew 5: 37: Let your speech be yes, yes; no,
no. The solution which God proposes is the following: Let your speech be yes,
yes; no, no; anything more than this comes from the Evil One. He proposes a
radical and total honesty. Nothing more. Anything more that you say comes from
the Evil One. Here again, we are confronted with an objective which will always
remain in our mind and which we will never succeed in fulfilling completely. It
is another expression of the new ideal of justice which Jesus proposes: “to be
perfect like the Heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5: 48). Jesus uproots any
attempt to create the conviction that I am saved because I observe the law.
Nobody can merit God’s grace, because otherwise it would not be a grace. We
observe the Law, not in order to merit salvation, but in order to thank with
all our heart for the immense gratuitous goodness of God, who accepts us and
saves us without any merit on our part.
Personal Questions
•
How honest is my speech? How honest am I with
myself as I answer that?
•
Is Jesus addressing intent in this instruction,
to be trustworthy without external aids?
•
Or is He addressing the hypocrisy of having one
truth when speaking and another when under oath?
•
Or is He giving instructions to not do a
physical act, as one might be asked to do in a modern courtroom?
Concluding Prayer
I bless Yahweh who is my counselor, even at night my heart
instructs me.
I keep Yahweh before me always, for with Him at my
right hand, nothing can shake me. (Ps 16: 7-8)
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