Our #MondayMotivation comes from our daily inspiration:— CatholicCharitiesKS (@CCNEK) February 12, 2018
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.
- Matthew 25:35-36#loveinaction pic.twitter.com/ZDl8Kdmbtj
Chapter 19 of the Book of Leviticus describes attitudes and actions towards Jews and Gentiles.
* [19:17–18] These verses form a unit and describe different attitudes and actions towards one’s fellow Israelites. A separate passage is necessary to advise a similar attitude toward aliens (vv. 33–34). Cf. 25:39–46. The admonition at the end of v. 18 came to be viewed in Judaism and Christianity as one of the central commandments. (See Mt 22:34–40; Mk 12:28–34; Lk 10:25–28; cf. Mt 19:19; Rom 13:8–10; Gal 5:14). The New Testament urges love for enemies as well as neighbors (Mt 5:43–48; Lk 6:27–36; cf. Prv 25:21–22).The Gospel of Matthew portrays the final judgment that will accompany the parousia.
* [25:31–46] The conclusion of the discourse, which is peculiar to Matthew, portrays the final judgment that will accompany the parousia. Although often called a “parable,” it is not really such, for the only parabolic elements are the depiction of the Son of Man as a shepherd and of the righteous and the wicked as sheep and goats respectively (Mt 25:32–33). The criterion of judgment will be the deeds of mercy that have been done for the least of Jesus’ brothers (Mt 25:40). A difficult and important question is the identification of these least brothers. Are they all people who have suffered hunger, thirst, etc. (Mt 25:35, 36) or a particular group of such sufferers? Scholars are divided in their response and arguments can be made for either side. But leaving aside the problem of what the traditional material that Matthew edited may have meant, it seems that a stronger case can be made for the view that in the evangelist’s sense the sufferers are Christians, probably Christian missionaries whose sufferings were brought upon them by their preaching of the gospel. The criterion of judgment for all the nations is their treatment of those who have borne to the world the message of Jesus, and this means ultimately their acceptance or rejection of Jesus himself; cf. Mt 10:40, “Whoever receives you, receives me.” See note on Mt 16:27.We consider a holiness code for other bodies as we integrate what postmodern science is telling us about the nature of the universe.
Chas Kestermeier, S.J. comments that Holiness is God's affair, and our part is to ask for it and to prepare ourselves to receive that gift and to live it.
What is this process by which we seek to live with the transparency, simplicity, and self-emptiness, the holiness which God calls us to? It is silence, it is prayer, it is fasting and humility, poverty and generosity, and it is all the gifts of the Spirit.Don Schwager quotes an anonymous early author from the Greek church on the Gospel where Jesus separates the sheep from the goats.
"And he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." So then, people on earth are intermingled, and not only intermingled in that the righteous live side by side with the wicked, but they are also indistinguishable. Between the righteous and the wicked there is no apparent difference. Even as in wintertime you cannot tell the healthy trees apart from the withered trees but in beautiful springtime you can tell the difference, so too each person according to his faith and his works will be exposed. The wicked will not have any leaves or show any fruit, but the righteous will be clothed with the leaves of eternal life and adorned with the fruit of glory. In this way they will be separated by the heavenly shepherd and Lord. The earthly shepherd separates animals by their type of body, whereas Christ separates people by their type of soul. The sheep signify righteous people by reason of their gentleness, because they harm no one, and by reason of their patience, because when they are harmed by others, they bear it without resistance. He refers to sinners as goats, however, because these vices characterize goats - capriciousness toward other animals, pride and belligerence." (excerpt from INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 54, the Greek fathers).Friar Jude Winkler examines the concept of Holiness code through which we are blessed by God and bear that blessing to others. A new meaning of righteousness is declared by Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel. It is being compassionate as Joseph was to Mary.
Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut describes the
Leviticus passage as the oldest written version of the principle of the Golden Rule.
Our passage is apparently the oldest written version of the principle. When Hillel, at the beginning of the Christian era, was asked to sum up the entire Torah briefly, he replied: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” (This negative form of the golden rule was apparently proverbial in Hillel’s time for it appears in practically the same words in the apocryphal book of Tobit (4:15).) Jesus of Nazareth, Hillel’s younger contemporary, declared that the commandment of Leviticus 19:18 is second in importance only to the command to love God (Mark 12:28-30.). In the following century, Rabbi Akiba declared it to be “the great principle of the Torah” (Sifra).Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, presents theology developed by Sallie McFague on the nature of the Body of God as key to an ecological holiness.
What would it mean, for instance, to understand sin as the refusal to share the basic necessities of survival with other bodies? to see Jesus of Nazareth as paradigmatic of God’s love for bodies? to interpret creation as all the myriad forms of matter bodied forth from God and empowered with the breath of life, the spirit of God? to consider ourselves as inspirited bodies profoundly interrelated with all other such bodies and yet having the special distinction of shared responsibility with God for the well-being of our planet? Such a focus causes us to see differently, to see dimensions of the relation of God and the world that we have not seen before.Striving for an apparently unattainable goal of holiness builds our practices that make God present to people in our world.
References
(n.d.). Leviticus, chapter 19 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved February 19, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/leviticus19:412
(n.d.). Matthew 25:31-46. Retrieved February 19, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/matthew25.htm
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved February 19, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 19, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
(n.d.). Leviticus 19 | My Jewish Learning. Retrieved February 19, 2018, from https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/leviticus-19/
(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 19, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/
No comments:
Post a Comment