New Creation in Truth

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to be reconciled in times of conflict and division as we seek truth in our relationships with our community.

Community Reconciliation 

The reading from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians presents The Ministry of Reconciliation.

* [5:16–17] Consequently: the death of Christ described in 2 Cor 5:14–15 produces a whole new order (2 Cor 5:17) and a new mode of perception (2 Cor 5:16). According to the flesh: the natural mode of perception, characterized as “fleshly,” is replaced by a mode of perception proper to the Spirit. Elsewhere Paul contrasts what Christ looks like according to the old criteria (weakness, powerlessness, folly, death) and according to the new (wisdom, power, life); cf. 2 Cor 5:15, 21; 1 Cor 1:17–3:3. Similarly, he describes the paradoxical nature of Christian existence, e.g., in 2 Cor 4:10–11, 14. A new creation: rabbis used this expression to describe the effect of the entrance of a proselyte or convert into Judaism or of the remission of sins on the Day of Atonement. The new order created in Christ is the new covenant (2 Cor 3:6).

* [5:18–21] Paul attempts to explain the meaning of God’s action by a variety of different categories; his attention keeps moving rapidly back and forth from God’s act to his own ministry as well. Who has reconciled us to himself: i.e., he has brought all into oneness. Not counting their trespasses: the reconciliation is described as an act of justification (cf. “righteousness,” 2 Cor 5:21); this contrasts with the covenant that condemned (2 Cor 3:8). The ministry of reconciliation: Paul’s role in the wider picture is described: entrusted with the message of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:19), he is Christ’s ambassador, through whom God appeals (2 Cor 5:20a). In v. 20b Paul acts in the capacity just described.

* [5:21] This is a statement of God’s purpose, expressed paradoxically in terms of sharing and exchange of attributes. As Christ became our righteousness (1 Cor 1:30), we become God’s righteousness (cf. 2 Cor 5:14–15). (2 Corinthians, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 103 praises God for personal benefits.

* [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). (Psalms, PSALM 103 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus Teaching About Oaths.

* [5:33] This is not an exact quotation of any Old Testament text, but see Ex 20:7; Dt 5:11; Lv 19:12. The purpose of an oath was to guarantee truthfulness by one’s calling on God as witness.

* [5:34–36] The use of these oath formularies that avoid the divine name is in fact equivalent to swearing by it, for all the things sworn by are related to God.

* [5:37] Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No’: literally, “let your speech be ‘Yes, yes,’ ‘No, no.’” Some have understood this as a milder form of oath, permitted by Jesus. In view of Mt 5:34, “Do not swear at all,” that is unlikely. From the evil one: i.e., from the devil. Oath-taking presupposes a sinful weakness of the human race, namely, the tendency to lie. Jesus demands of his disciples a truthfulness that makes oaths unnecessary. (Matthew, CHAPTER 5, n.d.)

Nan­cy Shirley is consoled by the respon­so­r­i­al psalm today with the declaration that “The Lord is kind and mer­ci­ful.”

It was lit­er­al­ly the fight song against the neg­a­tiv­i­ty that was engulf­ing me. I have to believe that when our defens­es are down, Satan takes full advan­tage of our com­pro­mised sit­u­a­tion. He floods us with neg­a­tive thoughts, mak­ing us feel unwor­thy and vic­tim­ized.  Wor­ry fills us and hope drains away.  How­ev­er, when we fight to keep our heads above water and see what is real­ly there, Satan can be ren­dered pow­er­less!!  The more I read the psalm and thought of the many songs that I love that rein­force the mes­sage of a kind and mer­ci­ful God, the more the neg­a­tiv­i­ty was being washed away.  I thought of my moth­er who faced so many loss­es in her life, had “cho­sen” to encase her­self in armor to pre­vent more hurt and pain but that armor also keep out love and car­ing from those around her.  It kept her in a self-imposed iso­la­tion – I had to ask myself, did I want to become my moth­er in my lat­er years, did I want armor from the hurt but that pre­vent­ed joy and love to be in my life? Nancy offers

“ 10,000 Rea­sons -- a per­fect song for me to remem­ber how blessed that I am always regard­less of how I’m feel­ing at the time.” (Daily Reflection June 14, 2025 | Creighton Online Ministries, 2025)

Don Schwager quotes “The Light of Truth,” by Chromatius (died 406 AD).

"By the grace of gospel teaching, the law given by Moses acquired an advantage. The law prescribes that one must not swear falsely; but according to the gospel one must not swear at all. The Holy Spirit had seen fit to order this through Solomon when he said, 'Do not accustom your mouth to oaths' (Sirach 23:9). And again: 'Even as a well-chastised servant is not deterred from envy, whoever swears and does business will not be purged from sin' (Sirach 23:11). Therefore it is absolutely inappropriate for us to swear. What need is there for us to swear when we are not allowed to lie at all and our words must always be true and trustworthy, so much so that they may be taken as an oath? On this, the Lord not only forbids us to swear falsely but even to swear, lest we appear to tell the truth only when we swear and lest (while we should be truthful in our every word) we think it is all right to lie when we do not take an oath. For this is the purpose of an oath: Everyone who swears, swears to the fact what he is saying is true. Therefore the Lord does not want a gap between our oath and our ordinary speech. Even as there must be no faithlessness in an oath, in our words there must be no lie. For both false swearing and lying are punished with divine judgment, as the Scripture says: 'The mouth that lies kills the soul' (Wisdom 1:11). So whoever speaks the truth swears, for it is written: 'A faithful witness will not lie' (Proverbs 14:5). (excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 24.2.2-4)

[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 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 comments that Paul is describing God’s picture of us, and that picture is the real one. The “new creation” is not just a nice idea or a comforting sentiment; it’s a spiritual reality.

But imagine what could happen if we did take our new creation seriously. We would hear the Spirit telling us that we are beloved of God. We would find new power over sin. And best of all, we would be a living testimony to the truth that the “old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17)!

“Jesus, I praise you for making me a new creation!” (Meditation on 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that in 2 Corinthians the disciples are instructed to proclaim the life of Christ that now everyone has to die to self to live for the Spirit as a new creation. In this way to be reconciled to Christ and God. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to take no oaths, often worded “As God lives” He asks if a false oath God should die? Friar Jude reminds us: What is “yes” is yes “no” is no as people of integrity.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, invites us to engage in a guided practice of lectio divina with Isaiah 61:1–2a. 

God has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. 

Deep reading (lectio): Read slowly and pause on any word or phrase that especially speaks to you, touches you or awakens something in you.  

Deep meditation (meditatio): Allow yourself time to reflect on whatever in the text calls to your attention and reflect on why that word or phrase might have such appeal to you. 

Deep prayer (oratio): Turn your thoughts into an intention, desire, or request that you share with God as you understand God. 

Deep contemplation (contemplatio): Rest into a time of silence in which you are receptive to God’s presence—or the presence of divine love, truth, and goodness—with you. [1]  (Rohr, n.d.)

We seek the support of the Spirit to maintain our commitment to truth as sons and daughters of God.

References

Daily Reflection June 14, 2025 | Creighton Online Ministries. (2025, June 14). Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved June 14, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-june-14-2025 

Matthew, CHAPTER 5. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 14, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/5 

Meditation on 2 Corinthians 5:14-21. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved June 14, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/06/14/1306010/ 

Psalms, PSALM 103 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 14, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/103?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 14, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/contemplative-reading-weekly-summary/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Let What You Say Be Simply Yes or No. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 14, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=jun14 

2 Corinthians, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 14, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2corinthians/5?14 

Ponder the Passages

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with the tragic situation of people currently involved in deadly conflict and the responsibility of believers in God during this time.

swords into ploughshares

The reading from the Prophet Joel describes nations destroyed and the Glorious Future of Judah.

* [4:10] The Lord directs the troops to forge military weapons out of the agricultural tools necessary for life during peacetime. In Is 2:4 and Mi 4:3, both in contexts presuming the defeat of Israel’s enemies, this imagery is reversed.

* [4:13] Their crimes are numerous: the nations are ripe for punishment. Joel uses the vocabulary of the autumn grape harvest to describe the assault of the Lord’s army against these nations. In Is 63:1–6, grape harvest imagery also controls the description of the Lord’s return from Edom with blood-spattered clothing after having trod his enemies into the ground as if they were grapes (cf. Jer 25:30). (Joel, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 97 praises the Glory of God’s Reign.

* [Psalm 97] The hymn begins with God appearing in a storm, a traditional picture of some ancient Near Eastern gods (Ps 97:1–6); cf. Ps 18:8–16; Mi 1:3–4; Heb 3:3–15. Israel rejoices in the overthrowing of idol worshipers and their gods (Ps 97:7–9) and the rewarding of the faithful righteous (Ps 97:10–12). (Psalms, PSALM 97 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus presents True Blessedness.

* [11:27–28] The beatitude in Lk 11:28 should not be interpreted as a rebuke of the mother of Jesus; see note on Lk 8:21. Rather, it emphasizes (like Lk 2:35) that attentiveness to God’s word is more important than biological relationship to Jesus. (Luke, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB, n.d.)

The comments from the USCCB identified the imagery reversal when we compare the use of “ploughshares and swords” by Joel and Isaiah. This may be a warning about our sometimes hasty proclamation of Biblical text to underline our opinion, when we still require contemplation with the Spirit to seek resolution of what we see as contradiction.

Joel 3:10

Beat your ploughshares into swords,

   and your pruning-hooks into spears;

   let the weakling say, ‘I am a warrior.’

Isaiah 2:4

He shall judge between the nations,

   and shall arbitrate for many peoples;

they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,

   and their spears into pruning-hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

   neither shall they learn war any more.

Angela Maynard comments that a lesson learned from today’s readings and reflection is that things are not always as they seem.

Take time to look deeper when something does not make sense. Can you think of a time when your initial reaction did not feel right but after time and quiet reflection things made sense? In the busyness of our daily lives, it is important to take time, to be quiet and to listen. (Maynard, 2023)

Don Schwager quotes “Blessings for hearing and keeping the Word,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"Mary was more blessed in accepting the faith of Christ than in conceiving the flesh of Christ. To someone who said, 'Blessed is the womb that bore you,' he replied, 'Rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.' Finally, for his brothers, his relatives according to the flesh who did not believe in him, of what advantage was that relationship? Even her maternal relationship would have done Mary no good unless she had borne Christ more happily in her heart than in her flesh." (excerpt from HOLY VIRGINITY 3.1) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 11:27-28 asks us to consider how blessed we are every time we sit with the Lord and read his word in the Scriptures? This is a gift that keeps on giving: the more we ponder God’s word, the more our minds and hearts are enlightened and the more we want to follow Jesus. He captivates us just as he captivated this woman that day long ago. And when God’s words pierce our hearts, we want to observe them, even if we do so imperfectly at times.

You might not be feeling particularly “blessed” today, especially if you are struggling in some way. But the fact that you are turning to Jesus, that you are eager to hear his word, means that you are giving him the chance to touch you, heal you, and reassure you of his love. So receive his blessing! Let this time with him and his word reorient you. Let it move your heart, as it did this woman. And let it make you ever more committed to following him, wherever it might lead you.

“Lord, thank you for blessing me with your word—and your presence—today!” (Meditation on Luke 11:27-28, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler discusses the treatment of the Day of the Lord, a time of cataclysm upon the earth by Joel when the evil will realize they have chosen hell. The tragedy for God is that He cannot force people to love Him. Friar Jude notes that, in a different sense from Mark, Luke presents Maryas the perfect disciple and the model of what the Church should be.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces theologian Randy Woodley, who reflects on how we can learn from the sustained hope of Indigenous communities.

We are still here. It may not seem like such a profound statement. At first, anyway. But given the numerous attempts at cultural assimilation and genocide that have decimated many Native American populations by 95 percent since 1492—and given that Indigenous people still have some of the worst living conditions on Turtle Island—the statement means a lot. “We are still here” speaks directly to the hope that remains in America’s First Nations.

In Indian country, any hope is good hope. This hope—sustained through poverty, racism, poor housing, chronic disease, and a host of other maladies—is not based on utopianism. The earned hope of which I speak is built on a spirituality of relationship with the land and with all living creation and on respect for elders who sacrificed to give the generations to follow them a future…. (Rohr, 2023)

As we journey, we are confronted with contradictions and the need to contemplate our faith with the guidance of the Spirit and our knowledge of our evolution to embrace love as the path of full life.

References

Joel, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/joel/4?12 

Luke, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/11? 

Maynard, A. (2023, October 14). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/101423.html 

Meditation on Luke 11:27-28. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/10/14/804695/ 

Psalms, PSALM 97 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/97?1 

Rohr, R. (2023, October 14). Prophetic Hope: Weekly Summary — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/prophetic-hope-weekly-summary/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=oct14