The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to seek the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit to guide our actions in building the Kingdom of God in our environment.
The reading from the Book of Sirach links Free Will with human responsibility.
* [15:11–20] Here Ben Sira links freedom of the will with human responsibility. God, who sees everything, is neither the cause nor the occasion of sin. We have the power to choose our behavior and we are responsible for both the good and the evil we do (vv. 15–17). (Sirach, CHAPTER 15, n.d.)
Psalm 119 praises the Glories of God’s Law.
* [Psalm 119] This Psalm, the longest by far in the Psalter, praises God for giving such splendid laws and instruction for people to live by. The author glorifies and thanks God for the Torah, prays for protection from sinners enraged by others’ fidelity to the law, laments the cost of obedience, delights in the law’s consolations, begs for wisdom to understand the precepts, and asks for the rewards of keeping them. Several expected elements do not appear in the Psalm: Mount Sinai with its story of God’s revelation and gift to Israel of instruction and commandments, the Temple and other institutions related to revelation and laws (frequent in other Psalms). The Psalm is fascinated with God’s word directing and guiding human life. The poem is an acrostic; its twenty-two stanzas (of eight verses each) are in the order of the Hebrew alphabet. (Psalms, PSALM 119, n.d.)
The reading from the First Letter of the Corinthians presents the True Wisdom of God.
* [2:6–3:4] Paul now asserts paradoxically what he has previously been denying. To the Greeks who “are looking for wisdom” (1 Cor 1:22), he does indeed bring a wisdom, but of a higher order and an entirely different quality, the only wisdom really worthy of the name. The Corinthians would be able to grasp Paul’s preaching as wisdom and enter into a wisdom-conversation with him if they were more open to the Spirit and receptive to the new insight and language that the Spirit teaches.
* [2:7–10a] God’s wisdom: his plan for our salvation. This was his own eternal secret that no one else could fathom, but in this new age of salvation he has graciously revealed it to us. For the pattern of God’s secret, hidden to others and now revealed to the Church, cf. also Rom 11:25–36; 16:25–27; Eph 1:3–10; 3:3–11; Col 1:25–28. (1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 2, n.d.)
In the Sermon on the Mount, from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches the Law and the Prophets concerning Anger, Adultery, Divorce, and Oaths.
* [5:19] Probably these commandments means those of the Mosaic law. But this is an interim ethic “until heaven and earth pass away.”
* [5:21–48] Six examples of the conduct demanded of the Christian disciple. Each deals with a commandment of the law, introduced by You have heard that it was said to your ancestors or an equivalent formula, followed by Jesus’ teaching in respect to that commandment, But I say to you; thus their designation as “antitheses.” Three of them accept the Mosaic law but extend or deepen it (Mt 5:21–22; 27–28; 43–44); three reject it as a standard of conduct for the disciples (Mt 5:31–32; 33–37; 38–39). (Matthew, CHAPTER 5, n.d.)
Tamora Whitney comments that we have what we need to make good choices. We have the commandments. These laws are not capricious or onerous. They are appropriate and eternal. Don’t kill. Don’t cheat. Don’t steal. They come down to treating each other respectfully and showing that we love God by loving his creation. It’s really simple at its basis: love God and love one another.
We can and should choose to do that. Unfortunately, not everyone does. We can choose to do the right thing. We can choose to treat others decently and respectfully, but unfortunately not everyone does. Even some who call themselves Christians do not prove that by loving God’s creation and following the commandments. Jesus says in the gospel that we can choose to be good. We can choose to do right. We can choose to respect others and their property. But if we choose not to, even though we may gain some benefit here on earth, we will not gain a place in heaven. We know what we should do. We know how we should act. It’s no secret, and it’s really basic decency. This is an informed choice.
We can choose to do what’s right. We can choose to do good. And we should do it for its own sake, but if we do right, we will get a heavenly reward as well. (Whitney, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “What you teach, you should do,” by Chromatius (died 406 AD).
"While it is sinful to abolish the least of the commandments, all the more so the great and most important ones. Hence the Holy Spirit affirms through Solomon: 'Whoever despises the little things shall gradually die' (Sirach 19:1b). Consequently nothing in the divine commandments must be abolished, nothing altered. Everything must be preserved and taught faithfully and devotedly that the glory of the heavenly kingdom may not be lost. Indeed, those things considered least important and small by the unfaithful or by worldly people are not small before God but necessary. For the Lord taught the commandments and did them. Even small things point to the great future of the kingdom of heaven. For this reason, not only words but also deeds are important; and you should not only teach, but what you teach, you should do." (excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 20.2.1-3)
[Note: Chromatius was an early Christian scholar and bishop of Aquileia, Italy. He was a close friend of John Chrysostom and Jerome. He died in 406 AD. Jerome described him as a "most learned and most holy man."] (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:17-37 comments that we can begin to experience God’s kingdom today. In fact, God is calling us to build the kingdom. How? We can begin by taking Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as a blueprint for our lives. He calls us to pray and not worry about our daily needs. To care for the poor. To forgive as God has forgiven us. To love our enemies. To turn the other cheek. When we do these things, we make God’s kingdom visible.
Because Jesus’ teachings can be challenging, we might try to make excuses for ourselves or think that only the saints can obey them. But the more we try to live out Jesus’ words, the more his Spirit fills our efforts with his divine grace—and the more we come to realize that it doesn’t depend only on us, but also on God’s power within us.
Today at Mass, ask the Lord how you might bring God’s kingdom to the places where you live and work. Rely on his teachings to guide you and the Spirit to empower you. Above all, stay alert, because opportunities to build the kingdom of God will surely come your way!
“Jesus, may your kingdom come through me and all your people!” (Meditation on Matthew 5:17-37, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler notes the theme in Sirach to demonstrate Hebrew wisdom is as good as Greek wisdom. Paul presents the wisdom of Christ crucified revealed by the Spirit after the rejection of wisdom of the world by the philosophers in Athens. Friar Jude comments on the contrast between the emphasis in Matthew for a Jewish audience and that from Paul for his Gentile audience.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, speaks in his 1980 recorded series on the Hebrew prophets about the communal and social emphasis of their message. Much of modern religion is individualistic, spiritualized instead of social. Prophetic words only speak out of the context of peoplehood, out of the context of community. It’s a call to the covenant people to live the covenant and be the people of the covenant. To be faithful to the pledge that God has made to God’s people. For the most part, the prophets’ teaching is not individualistic; it’s social.
Ironically—and this will seem like a paradox—out of that sense of peoplehood, out of that sense of community comes a strong tradition of the importance of the individual. I know that sounds contradictory, but that’s exactly what happens. A true sense of community creates a strong sense of individual personhood…. True individuals create true community. And true community creates true individuals. They are not conflicting. Because we’ve so often experienced bad community and individualism instead of true personhood, we see them as somehow in conflict. The prophet does not. So the prophet’s sense of Judaism is of a social religion that calls hearers to peoplehood, to togetherness, to relatedness. Only in relatedness can we understand relatedness to God. (Rohr, 2023)
We invoke the Spirit to ponder the mystery of the Cross that presents Jesus Way to build loving relationships with people and Creation.
References
Matthew, CHAPTER 5. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/5?17
Meditation on Matthew 5:17-37. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/02/12/608932/
1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 2. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/2?6
Psalms, PSALM 119. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/119?1
Rohr, R. (2023, February 12). A Life of Relationship — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-life-of-relationship-2023-02-12/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Great Are Those Who Teach and Obey the Commandments. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=feb12
Sirach, CHAPTER 15. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/sirach/15?15
Whitney, T. (n.d.). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/021223.html
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