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“Sermon on the Mount”
by Pietro Annigoni, 1953 |
Readings for Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 8:1b-7, 11-13
Brothers and sisters:
Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up.
If anyone supposes he knows something,
he does not yet know as he ought to know.
But if one loves God, one is known by him.
So about the eating of meat sacrificed to idols:
we know that there is no idol in the world,
and that there is no God but one.
Indeed, even though there are so-called gods in heaven and on earth
(there are, to be sure, many “gods” and many “lords”),
yet for us there is
one God, the Father,
from whom all things are and for whom we exist,
and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom all things are and through whom we exist.
But not all have this knowledge.
There are some who have been so used to idolatry up until now
that, when they eat meat sacrificed to idols,
their conscience, which is weak, is defiled.
Thus, through your knowledge, the weak person is brought to destruction,
the brother for whom Christ died.
When you sin in this way against your brothers
and wound their consciences, weak as they are,
you are sinning against Christ.
Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin,
I will never eat meat again,
so that I may not cause my brother to sin.
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Commentary on 1 Cor 8:1b-7, 11-13
Using the example of eating meat sacrificed to pagan idols, St. Paul develops the communitarian view of the church at Corinth. Eating meat sacrificed to idols was sinful in the eyes of some of the community (presumably those who had come from backgrounds where this was taboo). The higher Christian understanding is that God created food to nourish the body, and there was no dietary regulation that prevented or forbade the practice. However, because doing this would bring psychological harm to a brother or sister, it should not be done. This same issue is also taken up in Romans 14:1-15:6.
CCC: 1 Cor 8:10-13 2285; 1 Cor 8:12 1789
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 23-24
R. (24b) Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
O Lord, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Probe me, O God, and know my heart;
try me, and know my thoughts;
See if my way is crooked,
and lead me in the way of old.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
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Commentary on Ps 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 23-24
This song/prayer asks for guidance from the Holy Spirit. It recognizes that God’s spirit is in all his creation and his knowledge is omnipresent. The singer recognizes God's spirit is indwelling, actually creating man's own being. The strophes conclude with the psalmist asking God to form his conscience, and lead him on the path of righteousness - a repentance-and-return sequence.
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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.”
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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 the 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
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Reflection:
Heavenly Father, we humbly pray that those suffering from the coronavirus be returned quickly to full health by the power of your Son’s healing presence, and those in fear be calmed through the Holy Spirit.
In Christ’s name we pray. – Amen.
We have a fair notion of how Jesus wanted us to behave toward one another. He tells us to love one another – that is the foundation. Through his sermons and the way the fundamental understanding of the Great Commandment is applied by his Apostles, we see the practical lived faith we are called to.
The first reading is related to this lived sacrament of love. St. Paul addresses an issue in the first reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians that has no practical bearing on our lived faith in the sense that we do not have a problem with going to the store and avoiding meat being sold there that had been taken from sacrificed animals. That was the specific issue the Apostle was addressing. What is important to us is the underlying moral argument he makes.
St. Paul does not tell the faith community not to eat this sacrificed meat because it violates either Mosaic Law or Christ’s commandments. He tells them they should not do it because it is harmful to the sensibilities of some of their brothers and sisters for whom this practice was anathema. The way the argument describes the relationship between those who have a greater understanding of the laws of Christ (relative to eating sacrificed meat) establishes a hierarchy of responsibility. Those who have a greater understanding of Christ’s law of love have a greater responsibility to foster love and comfort in the community by insuring that, at least until a person can come to the same level of understanding as the more knowledgeable person, the one whose sensibilities or moral center would be damaged by a practice should be respected, and hurt or discomfort avoided.
It all fits together with the idea expressed by Jesus in his Sermon on the Plain relative to judgment of others. Suppose a member of our faith community finds some aspect of how we live to be uncomfortable, for instance if we have a tradition of being very open about some aspect of our lives and a new member’s tradition has held that topic to be one not discussed. Using first Jesus' corollary to the law of love, we should not judge that person (e.g. “Oh, he’s not intellectually mature.” Or “She’s such a prude.”) Next we apply St. Paul’s moral argument and avoid that practice until such time as it is no longer offensive or injurious to our brother or sister.
We pray today that we become better at living the Christian life in all its fullness and be ever mindful of our imperative to love one another.
In this strange year where many of us will not be able to receive the Blessed Sacrament or celebrate as a community in our houses of worship, we must be prepared to receive spiritual communion in prayer:
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
Pax
[1] 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 republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
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