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| “Pope Alexander III Receives an Ambassador” (detail) by Spinello Aretino, 1407 |
(Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
On Saturdays in Ordinary Time
when there is no obligatory memorial, an optional memorial of the Blessed
Virgin Mary is allowed[1].
Mass texts may be taken from the Common
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, from a votive Mass, or from the special
collection of Masses for the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Reading 1: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
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.
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Commentary on 2
Cor 5:14-21
This passage from
St. Paul
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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.
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Commentary on Ps
103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
Psalm 103 is a
song of praise to God for his mercy. It recognizes both God’s mercy and our
need, as sinners, for it. The link
between forgiveness and healing is brought out driving home the fact that
forgiveness by God heals the soul and that His forgiveness is available always.
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Gospel: 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
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."
Commentary on Mt 5:33-37
Jesus paraphrases
the Old Testament (see Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11; Leviticus 19:12). He is attacking the practices of guaranteeing
one’s promise by calling on God to witness the pledge. The Lord tells his
disciples that no oaths should be made, that what they say should need no
guarantee beyond their own character (“Let your 'Yes'
mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one.”). This last reference speaks of the implied sinfulness of
mankind in oath-breaking.
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Reflection:
We are “ambassadors for Christ”, as St. Paul
The Gospel from St. Matthew gives us just one characteristic that we are
to evince as “ambassadors of Christ”. We
are to be honest to a fault. Our word
should be our bond. If we promise to do
something, there should be no need of formal documents or commitments in the
legal sense. These instruments are for
use among those of the secular world who require such pledges because there is
a lack of trust. In Jesus’ day this was
a practice of swearing an oath. It was
more than children saying “cross my heart and hope to die.” It held the force of a covenant between
individuals. When Jesus told his
disciples not to swear oaths he was telling them that honesty was to be an
integral part of loving one another.
“Let your
‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’”
does not mean we should be frank to the point of hurting another person,
especially when it is our opinion that we are expressing. There are those who would say “I was only
being honest” knowing that what they said was hurtful or demeaning of
another. What parent would look at their
toddler’s stick drawing and say “That’s terrible. What is it supposed to be?” Would they not say instead “That’s very
nice.” recognizing the effort that had gone into it and the generosity of
offering that work to them.
We are ambassadors of
Christ. As such our first obligation to
Christ is to do as he asked; love one another!
We are to see those we meet though those loving eyes being honest and
loving in our interactions. It is not
easy. We must constantly subvert our
human nature that strives to place our own interests above others. But ambassadors do not have easy jobs,
especially when the one they represent gave up his life for the world.
Pax
[3]
The picture is “Pope Alexander III Receives an Ambassador” (detail) by Spinello
Aretino, 1407
[4]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
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