 |
| “Sermon on the Mount” by Pietro Annigoni, 1953 |
Reading 1: Colossians
3:12-17
Brothers and sisters:
Put on, as God’s chosen ones,
holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another and
forgiving one another,
if one has a grievance
against another;
as the Lord has forgiven you,
so must you also do.
And over all these put on
love,
that is, the bond of
perfection.
And let the peace of Christ
control your hearts,
the peace into which you were
also called in one Body.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly,
as in all wisdom you teach
and admonish one another,
singing psalms, hymns, and
spiritual songs
with gratitude in your hearts
to God.
And whatever you do, in word
or in deed,
do everything in the name of
the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the
Father through him.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Col 3:12-17
St. Paul exhorts
the Colossians with a litany of positive attitudes that culminate in the
cardinal axiom of the faith “love one another.”
He goes on to implore them to let the peace of Christ control their every
action and to praise God constantly through Jesus, God’s only Son.
This is the introduction to
the family hierarchy of the era described by St. Paul. This entire section of
the letter is a discourse on harmony within the family of Christ. It is important
to note the instruction given in the first part of this reading. Paul describes
the Christian rules for relationships; “Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and
beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another and forgiving one another”. The consistent focus of
the passage brings home the Pauline ideals of harmony and unity within the
Christian Family.
CCC: Col 3:14 815,
1827, 1844; Col 3:16-17 1156,
2633; Col 3:16 2641
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Ps
150:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. (6) Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise the LORD in his
sanctuary,
praise him in the firmament
of his strength.
Praise him for his mighty
deeds,
praise him for his sovereign
majesty.
R. Let everything that
breathes praise the Lord!
Praise him with the blast of
the trumpet,
praise him with lyre and
harp,
Praise him with timbrel and
dance,
praise him with strings and
pipe.
R. Let everything that breathes
praise the Lord!
Praise him with sounding
cymbals,
praise him with clanging
cymbals.
Let everything that has
breath
praise the LORD! Alleluia.
R. Let everything that
breathes praise the Lord!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 150:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6
Psalm 150
contains this litany of praise, first praising God for what He is. In the strophes that follow, it offers praise
with various media, instruments dance, and song. The psalm serves a doxology
for the 5th book of Psalms. The sound of Crashing cymbals in this case reminds
us of the rumblings and peals of thunder in Revelation, God’s work and presence
on earth.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke
6:27-38
Jesus said to his disciples:
“To you who hear I say, love
your enemies,
do good to those who hate
you, bless those who curse you,
pray for those who mistreat
you.
To the person who strikes you
on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes
your cloak,
do not withhold even your
tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of
you,
and from the one who takes
what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would
have them do to you.
For if you love those who
love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who
love them.
And if you do good to those
who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those
from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies
and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing
back;
then your reward will be
great
and you will be children of
the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the
ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as also
your Father is merciful.
“Stop judging and you will
not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will
not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be
forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given
to you;
a good measure, packed
together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which
you measure
will in return be measured
out to you.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk 6:27-38
This passage from St. Luke’s
Gospel continues the Sermon on the Plain.
In this section, Jesus extends the commandment to love one’s neighbor to
include one’s enemy, breaking new ground in the interpretation of Mosaic
Law. What follows is an extension of
each of the laws governing hospitality and continues by extending even the
judicial laws that govern dispute resolution.
In conclusion of this section, the Lord exhorts the disciples to embrace
forgiveness, saying “For the measure with
which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
CCC: Lk 6:28 1669;
Lk 6:31 1789,
1970; Lk 6:36 1458,
2842
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
Have you ever wondered what
you would say to someone about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus? If you were placed in a situation where you
didn’t have much time and the person you were talking to did not have even a
clue about who Jesus was and is, what would you say? Say, for instance, you found yourself in a
remote village where Jesus’ was a name not heard before, and one of the
villagers approached you and asked, “Who is this ‘Jesus’ you pray to and why is
he important to you?”
The answer to that question
is given today. If we had to summarize
what the Lord taught in just a few phrases we could say what Paul wrote to the
Colossians in the first reading and punctuate it with that part of the sermon
on the plain we were given from St. Luke’s Gospel.
Love God first and love one
another second. If we had just one short
sentence that communicated how we are commanded to live our faith; that would
be it. Yes, there is a huge body of work
that provides a frame work for how that love should be expressed, but when it
is all distilled down, when all of the embellishments and flowery words are
taken away, we are left with one clear and concise message; love God first and
love one another.
St. Paul tells the Colossians
that in love they can embrace the peace of Christ which will buoy them up and
allow them to face the most difficult times.
Jesus extends the idea of loving our neighbors, not just to the “nice”
neighbors, but to those who consider themselves to be our enemies. Again the message echoes; “Love God and love
one another!”
Pax
[1]
S.SCommemoratio
[2]
The picture used today
is “Sermon on the Mount” by Pietro Annigoni, 1953
[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.
No comments:
Post a Comment