February 19, 2017

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time A Leviticus 19: 1-2, 17-18; 1 Corinthians 3: 16-23; Matthew 5: 38-48 What does it mean to you ‘to be holy’? Way back in my Catholic school education, a good nun asked the class to write an essay on what it means to be holy. I’m thinking it was in or around fourth grade. Well, sister was upset with the essays so she told each of us to redo it and to make it very practical. I thought what I wrote about going to Church was practical but I had to turn in another essay. This was really a tough one for me…I couldn’t think of what to say. Finally I wrote a very short paper and said, “Well, I guess it means being nice to my brother more than a lot but most of the time. That would really be hard. My mom says that’s what I have to do and I have to be nice to my sisters too.” I got an A. Jesus is telling us today that we need to be holy. Actually He is commanding us to “Be perfect, just as Your heavenly Father is perfect.” Being holy because God is holy means each person is to love God. St. Francis de Sales in Introduction to the Devout Life taught that to love God we must love our neighbor, with no exceptions. So I must be like God in every aspect of my life. Am I? No! The next question is even blunter, and probably what my fourth grade teacher was trying to get out of her class: Am I trying? How hard am I trying? Or do I give up even before I try? Do I give up…or…do I try? Perhaps the ‘words’ get me ‘tied up’. ‘Being perfect’ is where part of the problem lies: I just can’t be perfect in everything. This was taught very early on in my Catholic education when I was being taught the Parker Penmanship. This is where signatures are not to be hasty, each stroke must be planned. Pencil practice is essential in learning this. One exercise was to continually draw circles between the lines of a lined paper so that at the end, it would look like you could put a finger through the circles. I could NEVER do this. So being perfect was never a problem that I had. Nor was making foul shots in basketball, I was terrible at this too. But being perfect is not a matter of doing everything perfectly, but of loving others in the same way that we love God. Each person will always have imperfections. But the more we let God’s love flow through us in our relationships with others the more God-like we will be. Am I trying? Today’s readings helps us to see this from God’s perspective. The first reading is taken from the Book of Leviticus. A good part of this book was devoted to the sacrificial and other ritual laws prescribed for the priests of the tribe of Levi. The commentary in the Catholic Study Bible says, “Generally speaking, the laws contained in this book serve to teach the Israelites that they should always keep themselves in a state of legal purity, or external sanctity, as a sign of their intimate union with the Lord. Accordingly, the central idea of Leviticus is contained in its oft-repeated injunction: ‘You shall be holy, Because I, the Lord, am holy.’” It is very interesting that Leviticus starts out with God addressing Moses for the very first time from the meeting tent. This is a huge change. Up to this time, Moses brought God’s word down from the mountain. This is a definite image showing God’s close relationship with the people. Today the Lord told the people ‘to be holy as God is.’ Then the reading skips several verses and shares how this can be accomplished: by not bearing hatred for your brother or sister in your heart. And who is my brother and sister? Jesus said, ‘Every person is your brother and sister.’ Do not take revenge…do not bear grudges… and You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” The people we're not to act as the communities they passed through, instead they were to distinguish themselves by being people of God. Paul is telling the Corinthians that their goal each and every day is to be dedicated to serving the kingdom of heaven. Am I a trustworthy servant of God. If I am living in God’s kingdom, whose kingdom am I promoting: Myself as being the be-all and end-all or God, my loving Father? In the end, I am being judged as being a ‘good and loyal servant.’ I am not being judged by how successful I am in business or in life. Matthew continues this theme as we continue our reflection on the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is telling us that everything is pointing to the Kingdom of God. This is why we were born and what our goal is, Heaven. To accomplish this goal, I have to be focused. I can’t be playing for two coaches or two teachers or two masters. If I do, then tension will arise and I will be forced to choose and so often that will mean I take the easier way. The easier way is always one where I’m loving me, not God. How do I love as God loves? How do I treat others? How do I treat those who are hurting? Suffering? In need? Do I have an attitude of superiority over them? Connections says “Do I feel that they don’t measure up to my standard of what is good and right and correct, it’s that lack of respect and empathy for the poor that Jesus condemns. The Kingdom of God is first realized when we can see ‘those people’ as our brothers and sisters, worthy not only of our help and understanding but of our respect; that in their perseverance and courage as they struggle to make lives for themselves and their families., the love of God dwells in their midst,as well as ours. The Kingdom of God begins when we realize that ‘those people’ are us.” I read this in A Call to Mercy, by Mother Teresa last night. “I remember last time when I was in Beirut and I brought those children —in terrible condition—hospital bombed—workers had run away—those thirty-seven children completely naked, one on top of another, nobody feeding them, taking care of them—they were like sucking each other. We brought these children and put them on nice clean beds. See the difference these sisters have made for these children. ‘Thank you, Mother’—doctors came and everyone said, ‘Every single child will die within one week.’ The most wonderful thing is that not one single child died, and the smile on their faces was beautiful.’ Let us not make the mistake that here in Europe and other places we do not have hungry people, we don’t have naked people There is not only hunger for bread, there is hunger of love. Maybe here there is no nakedness for lack of a piece of clothing but there is nakedness for lack of human dignity; there is no homeless for a room made of bricks but there is that rejection of being unwanted, unloved, uncared for. That is why we need to pray. Prayer will give us a clean heart, and with clean heart we can see God. And if we see God, we will love one another as God loves each one of us.’ If I am aware and can see as God sees, I love. So I reflect on: • When has someone recently gone an ‘extra mile’ for me? How did I feel? • Who is the most difficult person…the most difficult group for me to love now? • Some images: giving to those who ask…offering a job to someone willing to work for food…loaning money to a relative without expecting it to be paid back…giving a favorite sweater to a sibling and not holding a grudge when the sweater is returned damaged… Sacred Space 2017 says, “The principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth served to prevent excessive retaliation for an offense. But Jesus wants no retaliation at all. Instead He looks for a generosity of spirit that forgives the offender and returns good for evil. Take each of His examples into your prayer in turn and see how it might apply to you. Think about the world as you experience it: where do you notice attitudes that are defensive, reactive, and selfprotecting; where do you meet surprising generosity, graciousness, and hope? To which of these ways of seeing do you give the most attention?”