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| “Moses“ by Carlo Dolci, 1640-45 |
Reading I: Deuteronomy 26:16-19
Moses spoke to the people, saying:
“This day the LORD, your God,
commands you to observe these statutes and decrees.
Be careful, then,
to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
Today you are making this agreement with the LORD:
he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways
and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees,
and to hearken to his voice.
And today the LORD is making this agreement with you:
you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised
you;
and provided you keep all his commandments,
he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory
above all other nations he has made,
and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God,
as he promised.”
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Commentary on Dt
26:16-19
This reading from Deuteronomy is
the final agreement in Moses’ Covenant.
In it the Israelites are told by Moses that for their part they must
always follow God’s commandments and statutes.
For his part, the Lord has made them his special possession, favored
above the other nations he has made.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8
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!
I will give you thanks with an upright heart,
when I have learned your just ordinances.
I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.
R. Blessed are they
who follow the law of the Lord!
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Commentary on Ps
119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8
An acrostic poem; each of the
eight verses of the first strophe (aleph) begins with the first letter of the
Hebrew alphabet; each verse of the second strophe (beth) begins with the second
letter; and so on for all 22 letters of the alphabet.
The entire work is in praise of
the Law, and the joys to be found in keeping it. It is not "legalism"
but a love and desire for the word of God in Israel 's Law, which is the
expression of the Lord's revelation of himself and his will for man.
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Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies,
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you
have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers and sisters only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly
Father is perfect.”
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Commentary on Mt
5:43-48
This passage is the second of six
examples in St. Matthew’s Gospel of conduct demanded of the Christian
disciple. Jesus takes the commandment to
“love thy neighbor: and gives it a deeper meaning. He goes further and strengthens this
commandment including ones enemies in that list of those to be prayed for and
loved (also echoed in Romans
12:17-21).
This exhortation differentiates the Christian who loves even their
enemies from mere ethical morality.
Jesus continues to reinterpret
Mosaic Law. Here, he goes after the
closed community. He tells the
disciples, consistent with the instruction to “turn the other
cheek”, to love not just those who love us
but those who are our enemies as well.
He goes on to contrast the
response expected from his disciples to the response customarily given (e.g.
loving those who love you, greeting only one’s friends), asking “Do not the
pagans do the same?” The passage concludes with “So be perfect, just as your heavenly
Father is perfect.” He points out that to do less than that is human nature but
our calling is to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect. Only in St.
Matthew’s Gospel is the word “perfect” used. In St. Luke’s Gospel the word is
“merciful”.
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Reflection:
Sometimes when we are in discussions with friends or family
who see the faith as “un-inclusive” we may hear retorts like “The best
Christian that has ever been was Gandhi” or some other epithet intended to
challenge the notion that belief in the supremacy of Christ is key to our
salvation. Such people have missed
something very important that St. Matthew’s Gospel makes clear in the passage
we are given today.
There is a difference between being a good and moral person
and being a good Christian. To use an
analogy, it is like saying; “I have a row boat in a pond and am therefore a
sailor, making me just like the maritime seamen who take huge ships on the seas
of the world.” Some of the ingredients
are the same; both have boats (although the scale is drastically different) and
both are in a body of water; however the size and hazards are tremendously
different.
The principle differences between the good and moral person
and the good Christian are first what they believe about God; and second how
they are motivated and what they expect from their lives. We draw the distinction here because many of
our brothers and sisters who claim to be Christian are in fact good moral
people who have not taken a leap of faith.
As the Gospel tells us, the Christian follows God in loving
all his creation; that which is pleasing to the eye, to touch, to smell and to
taste and that which is not – all is created by him and is therefore to be
respected by us. That includes our
fellow travelers; whether they love us or not.
All were created by God, all are loved by God and as God’s only Son
shows us time and again, all are loved equally.
The distinguishing element here is that the good and moral
person may love and respect creation too, but does so only so far as it is seen
to be in that person’s best interests or the best interests of their society in
general. Here’s an example. There is an organization called PETA (People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
While it is certainly a Christian ideal to treat animals humanely,
certain radical members of this group have gone so far as to kill people whom
they thought were treating animals inhumanely.
Their reverence for the life of animals actually exceeded their
reverence for human life.
This is just one example of how morality may be misconstrued
as being analogous to Christianity. The
Christian is driven by love and that is underlying difference. We are asked to love God first (Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit) and then love others (all others, not just those who love
us). To do less, would be a betrayal of
Christ who showed us what that kind of love means.
Pax
[1]
ALTRE
[2]
The picture is “Moses“ by Carlo Dolci, 1640-45
[3]
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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