First Reading Commentary
Our heavenly Father is calling us to
be like Him – holy. We may have an idea
as to what constitutes holiness, but to be holy like God is holy is beyond our
full understanding, and without Him, completely impossible. In fact, if not for the Incarnation, it still
would not be possible; but Jesus came and destroyed all the walls that prevented
us from becoming like Him. The only
obstacle He left alone, because of His love for us, is our free will.
The
word of God encourages us to reprove our brothers and sisters in the Lord to
avoid harboring hatred for them in our heart.
Saint Augustine reminds us, however, in accordance with God’s law, that
love should regulate any complaints against another brother or sister. Philo of Alexandria, an ancient Jewish
biblical scholar, understands our Lord’s law in this way: “O Lord, we do not
rejoice at the misfortunes of our enemy, having learned from Your holy laws to
be compassionate towards the distress of others. We thank You for delivering us from our afflictions.”
Second Reading Commentary
Like the First Reading,
holiness is a key ingredient to this Reading as well. But again, it’s a brand of holiness that is
beyond the grasp of full human comprehension.
We all know that we bumble many things, do things we shouldn’t do and
get caught up in things we have no business entertaining. And yet, Saint Paul is trying to sell the
idea that we are a temple of God – and holy.
The holy apostle surely understood this apparent contradiction by
writing: “Let no one deceive himself.”
Everyone likes to be “in”
with the “in crowd” but Saint Paul is teaching us that to be “in” with heaven’s
crowd is to preserve ourselves in innocence of morality and purity of faith –
quite a radically different environment from today’s moral structure. It is only by the grace of God, dwelling
within us, that we are able to guard ourselves from the things which
deceptively seek our ruin. To be fools
in this age is a call to return to simplicity – making good use of the gifts of
this world – for as Saint Paul assures us: “Everything belongs to you.”
Jesus came to make known the glory of God and all His perfections, to
which He calls us to share in. Each of
us, as baptized members of the body of Christ, are disciples, like Paul and
Cephas. We are sent to promote
salvation, which is completely in harmony with the Church’s mission of
evangelization.
What is offered here by
our Savior are admonitions for the banner of authentic Christianity: to forgive
one another and to bear our sufferings with patience. These
are not easy words to hear from our Lord, and perhaps it’s worth mentioning
that these words were also difficult, if not more difficult to hear, by the
witnesses of Jesus’ teaching, because of how they understood the old Law.
One of the great
weaknesses of being human is our stubborn inability to accept a different take
on something that has already been engraved into our minds. In action/adventure movies, for example, we like
to see the bad guy get what he deserves in the end. To see the victim forgive his/her assailant
makes for a disappointing conclusion to the movie.
In this Gospel passage and
others, this is the Jesus in which we are tempted to keep a safe distance from. It’s a blast to follow Him from town to town
and read about the miracles He performed; but suddenly we get a Jesus Who is
delivering difficult words – not only difficult to hear – but He wants us to
embrace them. After all, a watered down
Christianity is much easier to live – isn’t it?
But really what Jesus is saying to us is that the way of the world is
not the way of God, and we, therefore, have to be radically different. True discipleship demands that each day,
little by little, we are being transformed into the Image of Jesus. What makes the difficult sayings of Jesus so difficult
is that we’re not divine beings; but, what makes not being divine bearable is
that there is a sacrament of healing.
Otherwise, love for Jesus could end up in an abyss of disappointment and
self-pity due to our failings.
Christianity is a courageous act.
The Catechism of the
Catholic Church teaches: “Christ Jesus always did what was pleasing to the Father,
and always lived in perfect communion with Him.
Likewise Christ’s disciples are invited to live in the sight of the
Father Who sees in secret, in order to become perfect as your heavenly Father
is perfect” (CCC
1693).
