The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today remind us that our relationship with God as Love calls us to seek the best for others.
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| Self denial for others |
The reading from the Book of Leviticus details various rules of conduct for ritual and moral holiness.
* [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).1
Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness is the prayer of Psalm 103.
* [Psalm 103] The speaker in this hymn begins by praising God for personal benefits (Ps 103:1–5), then moves on to God’s mercy toward all the people (Ps 103:6–18). Even sin cannot destroy that mercy (Ps 103:11–13), for the eternal God is well aware of the people’s human fragility (Ps 103:14–18). The psalmist invites the heavenly beings to join in praise (Ps 103:19–22).2
The reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians teaches if the Corinthians were genuinely wise their perceptions would be reversed.
* [3:21–23] These verses pick up the line of thought of 1 Cor 1:10–13. If the Corinthians were genuinely wise (1 Cor 3:18–20), their perceptions would be reversed, and they would see everything in the world and all those with whom they exist in the church in their true relations with one another. Paul assigns all the persons involved in the theological universe a position on a scale: God, Christ, church members, church leaders. Read from top to bottom, the scale expresses ownership; read from bottom to top, the obligation to serve. This picture should be complemented by similar statements such as those in 1 Cor 8:6 and 1 Cor 15:20–28.3
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Sermon on the Mount is concerned with retaliation and Love for enemies.
* [5:43–48] See Lv 19:18. There is no Old Testament commandment demanding hatred of one’s enemy, but the “neighbor” of the love commandment was understood as one’s fellow countryman. Both in the Old Testament (Ps 139:19–22) and at Qumran (1QS 9:21) hatred of evil persons is assumed to be right. Jesus extends the love commandment to the enemy and the persecutor. His disciples, as children of God, must imitate the example of their Father, who grants his gifts of sun and rain to both the good and the bad.4
Tom Lenz read the last line of the Gospel and asks, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” My heart kind-of sank a bit. “How can I be perfect?”
As I thought about it, I think the meaning of “perfection” that we all think about in today’s culture is not the same as what Jesus is talking about it Matthew’s gospel. In our society today, we all feel the pressure of performing at a high level. We seem to almost expect a “no mistake” performance from our children in school and on the playing field, with our jobs, and our finances, and in our relationships. It seems to be an evolution of our modern way of living that has progressively gotten more intense throughout the last 200 years of history. But, this cannot be what Jesus meant. His “perfection” and our “perfection” have two different meanings. I think that Jesus is talking about living within our True-Self (as Thomas Merton talked about). Our True-Self is at the core of who we are and is rooted in love because it is a gift from God – a perfect gift from God. Each of us has a True-Self, but sometimes we act out of our false-self – the one that is based on ego. When we act out of our false-self we are easily offended and see others as different from us. This “othering” is what leads to the dualism that Jesus calls us to avoid in today’s gospel. But, if we act out of our True-Self, out of Love, then we see all people as having the same True-Self core, which is to say God. There is no other way to see another person then as the same, regardless of gender, race, age, color, religious belief, or political affiliation. The false-self is imperfect, but the True-Self is perfect.5
Don Schwager quotes “You tear yourself apart by hating,” by an anonymous early author from the Greek church.
"We have seen how murder is born from anger and adultery from desire. In the same way, the hatred of an enemy is destroyed by the love of friendship. Suppose you have viewed a man as an enemy, yet after a while he has been swayed by your benevolence. You will then love him as a friend. I think that Christ ordered these things not so much for our enemies as for us: not because enemies are fit to be loved by others but because we are not fit to hate anyone. For hatred is the prodigy of dark places. Wherever it resides, it sullies the beauty of sound sense. Therefore not only does Christ order us to love our enemies for the sake of cherishing them but also for the sake of driving away from ourselves what is bad for us. The Mosaic law does not speak about physically hurting your enemy but about hating your enemy. But if you merely hate him, you have hurt yourself more in the spirit than you have hurt him in the flesh. Perhaps you don’t harm him at all by hating him. But you surely tear yourself apart. If then you are benevolent to an enemy, you have rather spared yourself than him. And if you do him a kindness, you benefit yourself more than him." (excerpt from INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 13, The Greek Fathers)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:38-48 considers “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)” How could Jesus say such a thing? He knows we’re human; he knows that we can never be perfect in the sense of never committing a sin. So how can we live out this commandment? Fortunately, God has given us some models to follow: the saints.
Because they were human, they were sinners, just like us. But they were “perfect” in God’s eyes nonetheless. Their perfection rested not in their sinlessness but in their commitment to love God and their neighbor with all their hearts (Matthew 22:37-39). It was their own experience of God’s love that allowed them to follow the Lord wherever he led and to love other people with the love that came from God. And so they made it their aim to be as merciful and generous as possible (5:39-40). They strove to love their enemies just as faithfully as they loved their friends and to pray for those who persecuted them (5:44-46).7
Friar Jude Winkler describes the vertical and horizontal aspects of our relationship with God and neighbour. The Sermon on the Mount calls us to turn a curse into a blessing. Friar Jude urges us to seek the perfection in Love that recognizes the origin of hate in the hurt of the other.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, presents the CAC Enneagram, not merely as a personality typing system but as a powerful tool for the transformation of consciousness. While the popularity of the Enneagram has soared in recent years, the symbol and teaching itself have roots in several wisdom traditions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Sufism. However, it was not until the late 1960s that Oscar Ichazo began teaching the Enneagram as we know it today. Fr. Richard personally learned about the Enneagram in the early 1970s from a group of Jesuits who had studied under Ichazo and were using it as a tool within spiritual direction. Today it is widely taught as a way of understanding personality, addiction, relationships, and vocation. [2] The transformation of our consciousness to deepen our self denial for others is facilitated by the Spirit demonstrating the Wisdom of Love.
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