February 16, 2014

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time A
Sirach 15:15-20; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37
The readings today make me stop and reflect on their importance as I look at my retirement years and the end passage of my life.  St. Augustine said “Love God and do what you like”; I wonder if I am doing too much of what I like and not enough of loving God?  I look in depth at the readings.
Jesus ben Sirach collected his teaching into a book to help those who already wanted to continue to learn more about God’s ways and to advance in knowledge and wisdom of the Torah (the first five books of the OT).  Today’s passage shares how important it is to keep God’s commandments.  Do I want to keep these or go my own way?  Sirach says that God does not force or coerce people (today’s words might be ‘bully’ or ‘pressurize’).  God gives each person the incentive to make the right choices.  Am I going to do it God’s way or my way?  Sirach tells me that if I choose to keep God’s commandments I will be saved.  If I trust in God, I will live.  If I choose evil I will receive evil in the end.  Whatever I choose will be given back to me. So what am I going to do?  Sometimes it’s hard to trust in the God that I cannot see.  When temptation comes it seems very attractive and 'I' say, ‘Why not’?  Sirach states it so succinctly:  God is wise, powerful and understanding; He lays it all out in front of me:  God gives life, evil brings death.  Choose life.      
Paul continues in teaching me God’s wisdom as he writes to the Corinthian community.  Paul says that true wisdom is not found in the fashions of the day or its rulers.  God’s wisdom is mysterious and hidden yet it is revealed to the believers through the Holy Spirit.  So the question is what is this hidden wisdom?  What are the wonderful things that human eyes have not seen and human ears have not heard until Jesus came?  Scripture scholars say that it is the truth that salvation, mine and everyone’s come through Christ crucified.  Jesus came to tell me and each person that God loves them and Jesus came to redeem all from their alienation and sins, He has redeemed all.  That’s why He chose the ultimate form of love giving: His crucifixion to show God’s love.  What are the effects of God’s love and His saving power...Msgr. Eugene Lauer in Sunday Morning Insights says, “In particular they are the mysterious power to love everyone, the superhuman ability to forgive even the worst of our enemies, the knowledge that all suffering leads to resurrection.  Without this ‘hidden wisdom,’ human minds may never have figured out that even the most obnoxious people are reflections of God.  They may never have known that peace is possible in this present age.  They may never have guessed that passion-death-resurrection is the model process for every tragedy, for every human trial, and consequently that there is always hope.  It would ‘not have dawned on us’ that we could live forever with God and that we could begin to share some of the divine life right here on earth.  It would ‘not have dawned on us’ that the Spirit of God is beneath the surface of every human event, giving meaning that unbelieving eyes do not perceive.”  This is not just for the select ‘holy ones’ but for each person who believes, to each person who is willing to take pains to look where eyes do not look, to hear what human ears miss or don’t want to hear and that is in the teachings of Jesus.  Jesus came and told all and He proved it by His love...so often I have to just sit and reflect on the fact that Jesus died for me.  Then I look at the severity of my sins and almost immediately I am drawn into the total love of God for me...that is how important I am to God, how each person is to God.   God loves!
Matthew wrote for the community of Jewish Christians and they wanted to know how they were to interpret Christ’s passion, death and resurrection in light of their own anticipation of the fulfillment of God’s promises?  They were the chosen people; the Messiah has come in Jesus what does this mean?  Jesus says, “I have not come to abolish but to fulfill” the commandments.  Jesus says the law and the prophets are important BUT they are now to be understood within the context of the new messianic age.  He is not just repeating the past.  Today’s passage gives a series of five concrete examples that Jesus places within the context of His new teaching.  He is not giving a new ‘written code’ but it telling each person that the Holy Spirit works within each person to transform them into God’s children, now a part of God’s family not because of anything I have done but it’s from God’s plentiful love.  The law made it easy to ‘go though the motions’ and maybe even grudgingly obey a rule than to grasp the real reason for the rule.  The real reason is love and Jesus tells us that love must become the fabric of my life and each person’s life.  This is hard.  It requires the hard work of inner transformation.  It is by this that I grow into the wisdom and spiritual maturity which Paul speaks about. Can I do it on my own...absolutely not?  It is only by the grace of the Spirit working within me and each person that accomplishes all that God needs done in me.  I for my part have to learn to stay out of the way of the Spirit and let the Spirit guide me.  I have to ask each day, ‘How am I doing?  What did I learn from the Spirit today?  Where is the Spirit leading me?  Where did I choose me and not God?  How is the Spirit helping me grow closer to God’s love?   So I reflect on:
What do I consider the signs of a spiritually mature person?
Are there rules that I follow without really grasping the reason behind the rule?
How do I reach reconciliation with people that I don’t like or don’t associate with?  What happens if I go to another person, ask for forgiveness, and they refuse to forgive me?  What happens when I refuse forgiveness to another person?  How do these affect my prayer life?
How can I rid myself of the habits and characteristics which make me less than I am called to be?
Sacred Space 2014 puts this in the positive
“I think of all those who have taught me, calling to mind the people who have helped me understand God’s ways.  I give thanks for them and ask God to bless them.  I pray that I may be such a person for those around me.
Jesus pointed to the continuity in God’s work and action.  I think of the traditions and teachings that have brought me to where I am, and I ask God to continue to draw me to life.”