February
15, 2026
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 76
Reading
1
Sirach 15:15-20
If you choose you
can keep the commandments, they will save you;
if you trust in God, you too shall live;
he has set before you fire and water
to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.
Before man are life and death, good and evil,
whichever he chooses shall be given him.
Immense is the wisdom of the Lord;
he is mighty in power, and all-seeing.
The eyes of God are on those who fear him;
he understands man's every deed.
No one does he command to act unjustly,
to none does he give license to sin.
Responsorial
Psalm
Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18,
33-34
R. (1b) Blessed
are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Be good to your servant, that I may live
and keep your words.
Open my eyes, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Instruct me, O LORD, in the way of your statutes,
that I may exactly observe them.
Give me discernment, that I may observe your law
and keep it with all my heart.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Reading
2
1 Corinthians 2:6-10
Brothers and
sisters:
We speak a wisdom to those who are mature,
not a wisdom of this age,
nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away.
Rather, we speak God's wisdom, mysterious, hidden,
which God predetermined before the ages for our glory,
and which none of the rulers of this age knew;
for, if they had known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But as it is written:
What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,
and what has not entered the human heart,
what God has prepared for those who love him,
this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.
For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Alleluia
cf. Matthew 11:25
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Matthew 5:17-37
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.
I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses
that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter 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.
"You have heard that it was said,
You shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you,
everyone who looks at a woman with lust
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin,
tear it out and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one of your members
than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.
And if your right hand causes you to sin,
cut it off and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one of your members
than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.
"It was also said,
Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.
But I say to you,
whoever divorces his wife - unless the marriage is unlawful -
causes her to commit adultery,
and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
"Again 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."
or
Matthew 5:20-22a, 27-28, 33-34a,
37
Jesus said to his disciples:
"I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses
that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter 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.
"You have heard that it was said,
You shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you,
everyone who looks at a woman with lust
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
"Again 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.
Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,'and your 'No' mean 'No.'
Anything more is from the evil one."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021526.cfm
Commentary on Sirach
15:16-21; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37
The first Christians were all Jews. In the beginning, they
continued to observe many of their traditional customs, e.g. about
circumcision, about clean and unclean food. As well, they went to the Temple in
Jerusalem to pray. But very soon, non-Jews (Gentiles) also became Christians,
and these did not have to observe some of the traditions of the Jews. But the
Jewish Christians felt uncomfortable about this. When they became Christians,
did they have to abandon traditions, which were so much part of both their
religious and social life? It became a very serious issue in the Apostolic
Church.
Matthew’s Gospel, from which today’s passage comes, was
written primarily for Jewish Christians and today’s reading—and indeed the
whole of this Gospel—can be seen as words of encouragement for them. Throughout
his Gospel, Matthew constantly uses the Old Testament to show that the life of
Jesus is not a breakaway from past Jewish traditions, but that it is a
continuation of all that was foretold by the prophecies of the Hebrew
Testament. The life and teaching of Jesus is not to be seen as a new religion;
Jesus’ life is the natural development of the story of salvation. And Jesus is
the climax of that story, because Jesus is the Messiah king and saviour for
whom the Jews had been waiting for such a long time (in that sense, our
Bible—Old and New Testaments—is really only one book).
The Law and Jesus
So in today’s Gospel Matthew emphasises the relationship between Jewish Law and
the teaching of Jesus. Matthew reassures his readers that Jesus has not come to
abolish the Law and the prophets, but to bring them to completion. So, in a
sense, the Law still has force.
…until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not
one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
On the other hand, there is much in Jesus’ teaching that is
completely new. He did not abolish the Law, but he introduced a completely new
way of thinking. He did not abolish or change the Law, but went far beyond its
literal requirements. For Jesus, just to keep the Law externally is not enough.
To be a disciple of Christ, the foundation of our lives must go deeper—to a
mutual love. To keep the Law without love is like having a body without a soul.
Literally, to keep the Law of God and of the Church is not the same as being a
good disciple of Jesus. Jesus says today:
…unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes
and Pharisees [who were perfect observers of the letter of the
Law], you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Scribes and the Pharisees kept the Law and the
Commandments very carefully. But Jesus would say that, though they observed the
external requirements of the Law, they did not have the spirit which is the
foundation of the Law: to love God and to love the neighbour as oneself.
Clearly, this teaching would have made much more impact on a Jewish audience
but, even in our Christian lives, it is possible for people to have a very
mechanical notion of what is good behaviour. This is revealed often in the way
we “go to confession”.
Six examples
To help us understand his meaning Jesus gives six striking examples, and in
today’s Gospel, we have four of them. In these four examples, Jesus helps us to
understand that, to be one of his disciples, it is not enough simply to keep
what the Law tells us to do. We do not keep the Law through our behaviour, but
through our basic attitudes, our basic values.
When the Pharisees kept the Law, they wanted to obey God,
but very often they neglected the needs of others. It was their own
‘perfection’ they were mainly concerned about (just as we can be exclusively
concerned about being in a ‘state of grace’). Even now, some people in
confession are sorry because their sins offend God or are instances of personal
failure, but often they show little awareness of how their sins hurt other
people.
For Jesus, we cannot separate our relationship with God and
our relationship with people. If we cannot find God in our brothers and
sisters, we cannot say that we really love God. Or in the words of the First
Letter of John:
We know that we have passed from death to life because we
love the brothers and sisters…All who hate a brother or sister are murderers,
and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. (1
John 3:14-15)
Do not kill
The first example from the Law that Jesus gives is, “You shall not murder”. But
Jesus says we must not even get angry or use insulting words with others. What
Jesus is saying is that we must deeply respect the dignity and rights of every
person, a person who is unconditionally loved by God and for whom Jesus will
sacrifice his life. And if we do not respect our brothers and sisters deep
within our heart, we cannot say we respect God. So if I am going to the Temple
to pray (a religious act of worship) and I remember I have offended someone, I
should go and reconcile with my brother first, and only then make my offering
in the Temple. Otherwise, my prayers and offering are of no real value.
Life and worship cannot be separated—each influences the
other. Yet, how often do we piously go to Mass when we have deeply hurt another
person and need to reconcile with him or her? We cannot say we love Jesus if we
are hurting others.
That is the meaning of the sign of peace which we share with
others before sharing in the Eucharist at Communion. And, where possible, it
would be great to make a point of giving the sign of peace sincerely to a
person with whom we have a problem, a person we may criticise or dislike, or
someone who is a foreigner or a complete stranger. If we cannot do this, we
should question the genuineness and integrity of our communion.
Do not commit adultery
Adultery occurs when there are sexual relations between two people, of whom at
least one is already married. In Jewish Law there were very serious penalties
for this. We remember the woman who was brought to Jesus to be stoned to death,
because that was what the Law demanded. Jesus, however, says you can even
commit adultery in your thoughts (and nobody knows about it—except you).
Again Jesus is saying that, apart from our external actions,
our basic attitude is paramount. We cannot just use another person as an object
to give us pleasure. We cannot use another person like a toy. When that happens
both are degraded. Real love is completely different. Real respect is
completely different. And adultery is wrong not so much because it is a sexual
act outside marriage, but because it is an act of serious injustice to the
innocent married partner and seriously injures the marriage relationship. It is
a serious breach of trust and fidelity.
No divorce
The Gospel tells us that the Law also says:
It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him
give her a certificate of divorce.’
In Jesus’ time, it was relatively easy to divorce. If a husband
became sexually attracted to another woman, he could just make an official
declaration that he was divorcing his wife. It could be for very trivial
reasons. She could do nothing—she had no say in the matter.
It was legal, but according to Jesus, it was against the
dignity and the rights of the wife. It was legal, but it was both selfish and
unjust. It was legal, but also immoral. For Jesus, it is not enough for
something to be legal. It must also be good. It must also be an expression of
love and justice. That is something we need to remember. Immoral acts are not
less immoral simply because they do not happen to be against the law, or
because I am no longer a practising Catholic.
It would seem that Jesus is dealing here with divorce for
selfish reasons. In our time, divorce is often the result of a marriage having
irretrievably broken down. In Jesus’ time, love or happiness had very little to
do with marriage. It was governed by the laws and by tradition, and was seen
primarily as the bringing together of two families with the purpose of
producing heirs.
The matter is more complex in our own time and we have also
to distinguish between obtaining a civil divorce (which Catholics can do) and
having a second sacramental marriage (which, under the present legislation,
Catholics may not do). And there are other issues involved in the question of
divorce, but they can be dealt with more fully when we deal with the question
later (Sunday of Week 27 in Year B).
No false swearing
Jesus also says:
Do not swear at all… Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No,
No’.
It was common in Jesus’ time for people to guarantee the
truth of what they said by making a solemn oath before God. Jesus’ point is
that a good Christian does not have to swear at all, because a true Christian
is a reliable and totally honest person. He or she is a person of integrity.
Such people can be trusted when they speak. They don’t have to give external
guarantees. Their ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ means exactly what is said and there are no
mental reservations. It is a pleasure to meet people like that, who are totally
transparent and have nothing to hide.
Catholics and the law
There are not a few Catholics who feel that if they just keep the Commandments
they are good Catholics. They often like to ask, “Is this a sin?”, meaning, is
it against the law? Is it a mortal sin or is it a venial sin? If it is ‘only’ a
venial sin, then I can do it.
But true Christians do not ask whether something is legal or
illegal. They love God, they love Jesus, they love their brothers and sisters.
Their only concern is how they can serve and love them more and more. They want
to work with Jesus and with his brothers and sisters to build the Kingdom of
God. No matter how much they do, they know they can still love more and do more
and be more.
It is not then a question of law; it is not a question of
what I have to do. It is a question of how much more I can do, how much more I
want to do. The requirements of the law are way behind.
Comments Off
https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/oa061/
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
LECTIO
Opening Prayer
"Speak, Lord, that
your servant is listening. " Speak to us now, Lord! We want to make room
for your Word, to allow the words of the Gospel permeate our lives so that you
become the light the strength of our way, vivify and transform our attitudes.
We all want to mature in the way of listening to your words so that our hearts
are transformed.
In us, there is a
desire reading and understand why we are expecting for your bounty and
generosity to be guided in comprehending of your Word. Let your word to our hearts
cannot find any obstacles or resistance. That your word of life does not flow
in vain or in the dried desert of our lives. Enter in our empty hearts with the
power of your Word, come to take the place among our thoughts and feelings,
come to live with us in the light of your truth.
Gospel
according to Matthew (Mt 5: 17-37)
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.
I tell you, unless your righteousness
surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter 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 brother will be liable to
judgment; and whoever says to 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. “You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit
adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already
committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin,
tear it out and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one
of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your
right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
It is better for you to
lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna. “It was
also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce. But I say
to you, whoever divorces his wife -- unless the marriage is unlawful -- causes
her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
“Again, 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.”
Moment of Silence
The silence creates an internal atmosphere of intimacy and
at the same time increase the spiritual taste of your Word.
MEDITATIO
Key to the Reading
•
Mt 5-7: The context in the “Sermon on the Mount”
Jesus addressed to the crowds who are in hurry to listen
to his teaching. They are amazed with his authority. He speaks to them with
strong demand and points out that we are children of God and brothers and
sister to each others. In the attempt to give the full meaning of the precept
of the Jewish law.
The evangelist, in locating the first discourse of Jesus
on the mountain, wished to draw the attention to the readers the image of Moses
giving the Law on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24: 9). This teaching takes place as
Jesus is seated, a position that recalls the attitude of the Jewish rabbi who
interprets Scripture to his disciples. It is difficult to capture the richness
of the themes that run through long speech, as some scholars prefer to call it
“the evangelical words of Jesus"(cf. 7: 28).
Our liturgical text is preceded by a prologue in which the
Beatitudes are presented as the fulfillment of the Law (Mt 5: 3 to 16). The
message of Jesus in this teaching focuses on happiness in the biblical sense,
which places man in right relationship with God and, therefore, with total
life: happiness tied to the reality of the kingdom of heaven. In a second part
Jesus develops the theme of "justice" of the kingdom of heaven (5: 17
to 7: 12).
•
Mt 5: 17 - Jesus fulfilled the Law and the
Prophets.
In these first statements Jesus presents himself as the
one who come to "fulfills the law": "Do not think I have come to
abolish the Law or the Prophets: I came not to abolish but to fully fulfill
them " (v.17). Jesus declares that he is the fulfillment of the law.
The consequences of such words are thus understood by the
reader: only through him what we can enter the kingdom of heaven, even the
smallest of the commandments makes sense through Him. It's like saying that
Jesus is the measure to enter the kingdom of heaven: in Him, anyone, great or
small, depends on the choice of letting ourselves be led by one who fulfills
the Law and the Prophets. Henceforth the law, the teaching of the prophets, the
justice the salvation must bond with Him.
The reader knows that in the Old Testament these truths
were seen like separate and distinguished among them: the Law contained the
will of God; justice expressed the human engagement in order to observe the
contents of God‟s will in the Law; the Prophets, exegetes of the
Law, were the witnesses of the implementation of the fidelity of God in the
history. In the person of Jesus these three truths are unified: they find their
meaning and value. Jesus declares openly that he has come to fulfill the Law
and the Prophets. What do these affirmations of Jesus mean? What is the meaning
of “the Law and the Prophets”? We cannot be thinking of Jesus carrying out
prophecies (from a point of view of the content, or in the literal sense) of
the Law and the Prophets, but rather the instructions of the Law and the
Prophets. But in particular way what means “to abolish,” “to fulfill” the
instructions of the Law and the Prophets? The answer is placed at two levels.
The first one regards the instruction of Jesus, that it
does not change the contents of the Law and the Prophets and whose function was
didacticinstructive; indeed, Mathew considers the Prophets like the witnesses
of the commandment of love (Os 6: 6 // Mt 9: 13; 12: 7). That Jesus
accomplishes the instructions of the Law and the Prophets can mean that
“manifest them in their meaning,” “brings to complete expression” (U. Luz); it
is from excluding the meaning of “to invalidate,” “to abolish,” “not to
observe,” “to break (to smash).
The second level is referred to the involved acting of
Jesus: does the law itself changes or not? In this case to fulfill the Law
could mean that Jesus, with its behavior, adds something that lacks or brings
to fulfillment, it perfects the instructions of the Law. In more concrete
terms: Jesus in His life, with its obedience to the Father, “accomplished” the
requirements demanded from the Law and the Prophets; after all, He observes the
Law completely. More meaningfully: through His dead and resurrection Jesus has
fulfilled the Law. To us it seems that the emphasis is placed on the behavior
of Jesus: with obedience and practice He has fulfilled the Law and the
Prophets.
•
Mt 5: 19: Jesus who teaches the will of the
Father and the fulfillment of the Law.
To the reader the use of the verbs “to act and to teach”
does not escape: the precepts of the Law for “who will observe them and will
teach them.” Such aspects pick in full load the total image of Jesus in the
thought of Mathew: Jesus who teaches the will of God and the achievement of the
Law is the obedience son of the Father (3: 13-4: 11). Here the behavior model
that appears to us from this Gospel page. Sure, the emphasis is on the
implementation of the Law through obedience, but that does not exclude a
fulfillment by means of His instruction. We do not forget that to Mathew it is
important the conformity of the practice with the instruction of Jesus: he is
master in obedience and the practice. However, the praxis as it infers from the
warming to watch itself from the pseudo prophets in 7: 20 is priority: “From
their fruits you will recognize them.” It is interesting to notice that Mathew
uses this verb to complete, to fulfill, only for Jesus: only him completes the
Law, only His person introduces the characteristics of the fullness. Here roots
its authoritative invitation, that becomes a “shipment,” a task to complete the
Law in fullness: “I say to you…” (vv. 18: 20).
•
Mt 5: 20 Jesus fulfills justice.
Such implementation is
distinguished from the ways to comprise it and to live it in the Judaism; in
Jesus a new specificity of the justice is introduced: “I say to you in fact: if
your justice will not exceed that one of the scribes and the Pharisees, you
will not enter in the kingdom of heaven” (v. 20). The scribes are the
theologians and the official interpreters of Writing (5: 21-48), the Pharisees,
instead, are the actively engaged lays of that time, excessively taken from the
practice of mercy (6: 1-18). Justice practiced from these two groups is not
sufficient, cannot serve from model: it prevents to enter in the kingdom of
heaven. The addressees of this warning, in the end, are the disciples; it is
addressed to us. Sure the will of God it is drowned to the Law, but he is Jesus
who incarnates a new way to put the justice in practice. Jesus asks one “greater
justice,” than, what does it refers to? That one of the Scribes and the
Pharisees has been aligned to the justice of the men, that one preached from
Jesus, instead, demands one justice more substantial, significantly greater to
that one practiced from the Judaism. In what consists this “more” our text does
not precise immediately, it is necessary to read the continuation of the
instruction of Jesus.
•
Mt 5: 20 The radicalism of the justice preached
from Jesus.
It is not about to stand out in radical way some
commandments of the Law; it is rather primary that the commandment of the love
is to the center of these single commandments. The “most quantitative one”
guides to strengthen the qualitative aspect in front of God: the commandment of
love. The believing community is called to subordinate to the commandment of
love, seen as central, the various commandments of Law. There is no tension
between the single garnishments and the commandment of love. The instructions
of Jesus become binding, online with the instructions from the Old Testament.
For Jesus there is no opposition between the single prescription of the Law and
the commandment of love: they are to be considered in a harmonious relationship
because in their entirety it is offered the will of God to us (U. Luz).
•
Mt 5: 23-25: How to relate between siblings?
Between the radical requirements inborn in inviting to
follow him, Jesus faces the argument of the relations fraternity. It is not
enough to define all the engagement to the external action of not to kill: “You
have heard that it was said from the old ones: You will not kill…” (v. 21); it
is essential to break off such narrow norm therefore, but also radical: not to
kill! The fifth commandment recommended the respect of life (Es 20: 13; Dt 5:
17). A deepening or a completely new horizon in the spirit of the Decalogue
comes forward now. If it is not concurred to kill a person physically it wants
to say that it is allowed to make it in other ways: hatred, the offense, the
gossip, the depreciation, the anger, the insult. In the completely new
perspective of the Speech of the Mountain, every lack of love towards the next
one involves the same guiltiness of the homicide. In fact, the temper, the
anger, the depreciation are rooted in an undivided heart of love. For Jesus s'
it does not break the single Law just by killing, but also with all those
actions that they try to destroy or “to make useless” the other.
•
Jesus doesn’t deal the issue of who is right or
who is wrong but who “offends the brother or slanders him in public does not
have more space in front of God, because homicide” (Bonhoeffer, Sequela 120).
From here the severity that denies value to the offer, the cult, the prayer and
the Eucharistic celebration. Who has separated himself from the brother also
has separated himself from the relation with God. It needs, then, of a previous
reconciliation with the brother that has something against him: Against you,
not you against him. Innovation in this word, even if not easy is one to share.
To my brother that has “something against me” I answer coming upon him: “first,
go to reconcile yourself,” without increasing the distance. It is not alone a
question of asking forgiveness: it is urgent to reconstruct the fraternal
relations because the good of the brother is my good. Jesus says: “Go before”…
In the first place, before praying, before donating, before that the other
makes the first step, is the movement of my heart, of my body towards the
other. Such going towards the other it has the purpose of the resetting of the
laceration; a movement that stretches to the reconciliation.
Some Questions
To put the meditation and practice.
•
In your life, do you always open to Jesus'
request for a greater justice? Are you aware that they are not yet in full
justice?
•
In the practice of justice, do you match it with
the act of God? Do not you know that justice live in the human relations has
been given to us? A confirmation you may find it the word of the Apostle Paul:
"My righteousness is not having as one arising from the law, but that
which comes from faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God based
on faith"(Phil 3: 9).
•
The expression of Jesus “but I say to you” it is
for us an imperative or a theoretical commandment? Are we aware that the more
and more great justice is nothing else that the continuous availability to be
confronted with the existence of Christ, the only one just (fair)?
•
Our justice is engaged to imitate something of
the justice of God, of his gratuity, his creativity? God renders us just, free
us from the paralysis of the sin; once rendered free, we mutually transmit this
liberation, practicing a justice that it does not judge, but always leaves
opened, indeed it creates for the other spaces of a possible return to one
authentic life
Orario
Psalm 119 (1-5, 17-18, 33-34)
The Psalm invites to us to obey to the law of God
with all the personal effort. Such possibility is not only an external
obligation but a gift granted to the man that put its confidence in God. The
practical of the new justice in order to enter in the Kingdom of heaven cannot
only come from an individualistic commitment, but from a familiar and constant
dialogue with the Word of God.
Happy those whose way is blameless, who walk by the
teaching of the LORD.
Happy those who observe God's decrees, who seek the LORD
with all their heart.
They do no wrong; they walk in God's ways.
You have given them the command to
keep your precepts with care. May my ways be firm in the observance of your
laws!
Be kind to your servant that I may
live, that I may keep your word. Open my eyes to see clearly the wonders of
your teachings.
LORD, teach me the way of your laws; I shall observe them
with care. Give me insight to observe your teaching, to keep it with all my
heart.
Final Prayer
The Word that we have listened and meditated on has
appeared to us quite strong, oh my Lord, and has put in crisis our attitude:
“Go to reconcile yourself!” In the first place, before being in front of the
altar, before introducing our things and donate them to you with love, before
that it is the brother to take the initiative, help our heart to complete that
movement that recomposes the conflict, the laceration, therefore, to recompose
the lost harmony.
Contemplatio
Saint John Chrysostom invites us
with force and firmness: “When you refuse to pardon your enemy you, damage
yourself, not him. What you are preparing is a punishment for you in the day of
the judgment” (Speeches 2,6). Let yourself be transformed by God’s love of,
in order to change your life, to convert yourself, to find again the way of
life.
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