Revised by Fr. Ray Reitzel, C.R.
Father Ray was born in Waterloo and is #9 in a family of 9 boys and 3 girls.
One brother (Harry) is a C.R. priest and two sisters are Notre Dame Sisters.
He taught for 31 years at St. Jerome’s H.S, Kitchener
and St. Joseph-Scollard Hall in North Bay. He served in 4 parishes for 17 years.
He is now semi-retired and living in the priests’ residence, Louis Hall, at St. Jerome’s University
SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
February 19, 2017
GATHERING TIME (10-15 minutes)
Introduction to the Word:
Jesus teaches in the last line of today’s Gospel, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This reminds me of an incident when I was teaching at St. Joseph-Scollard Hall in North Bay around 1980. We usually helped out with weekend Masses and homilies in various Parishes. This one priest remarked. “There is not a Christian Community in any parish in North Bay.” That is the first time in my life, that I remember, that I retaliated with a nasty remark. How could he make such a negative judgement?
Coincidentally, I was reading a book that week, and in the prologue it related a time when Socrates was teaching a class about “the perfect society”. A student raised his hand and remarked, “But Sir, there is no such thing as a “Perfect Society”! Socrates retorted, “If a Perfect Society has never existed, if a Perfect Society does not exist now, or even if a Perfect Society will never exist, we act as if it can exist, and start by putting our own life in order.”
That statement has always remained with me. There is no such thing as a perfect marriage, a perfect family, a perfect Catholic school or Parish or Pastor, a perfect---. But the essential question is, “Am I, we, they, striving/trying to be perfect?” If so, that is fantastic! One is then well on the road to Perfection. From this, my definition of a Saint is, “a sinner striving/trying to be a Saint.”
Warm-up Activity (about 8–10 minutes):
Taking some time in reflection and sharing, can help us to see that we share a common experience when it comes to being hurt, and offering forgiveness in trying to love the offender.
i) What personal hurts or situations do I find difficult to forgive today?
ii) What is my usual pattern for addressing hurts by others?
iii) What happens to me when I find it difficult to forgive and do not forgive another?
iv) What happens to me when I have found the strength to forgive another?
v) What graces can I name when I have been able to forgive?
THE TABLE OF THE WORD
THEME
While our introduction focuses on “being perfect,” the Gospel today includes other teachings that come from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: when offering forgiveness to our enemies, Jesus teaches that if someone strikes us, we should turn the other cheek; if someone takes our coat, we should give our cloak as well; and if someone forces us to go one mile, we should go a second. These are not, however, random thoughts. They are connected, because the goal of forgiveness is reconciliation. By turning the other cheek, giving the additional cloak, or carrying the other’s burden another mile, the wronged person is being assertive in the face of wrongdoing.
To look at another who has intentionally slapped my face and to turn the other cheek to them is to provide them with an opportunity for them to see what they have done! It is a decisive and affirmative action to create the opportunity for them to see their wrongdoing and to stop their offensive behaviour. This means that the other has an opportunity to embrace a conversion! The opposite behaviour on our part, of course, is to retaliate, cultivating a spiral of hurt and reprisal.
But, Jesus teaches us to LOVE our enemies, even in the continued face of wrongdoing. This means that we will be imitating Jesus, who loved and forgave his enemies. It also means that, as the first reading suggests, we will become “holy” as God is “holy”. Over and over God loves us and forgives us, no matter how many times we are unfaithful. Only by striving/trying to act in this way in our own lives, will we be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.
Leader: (introductory prayer)
Lord Jesus, you came to heal the wounds of sin and division, Lord, have mercy.
Christ Jesus, you reconcile us to God and to one another, Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you strengthen us to be people of forgiveness, Lord, have mercy.
Let us pray
Gracious God, whose holiness is manifested in forgiveness, mercy, compassion, and
detachment from things, form us as disciples of your Son, Jesus,
who came as the way, the truth, and the life.
Help us to see the way to reconciliation and wholeness, through forgiveness.
Assist us to come to the fullness of life that you offer,
by loving all people, even those who have hurt us.
We ask this through your Son, Jesus, our model and teacher of forgiveness,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever. Amen.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION TIME (45 minutes)
(As Christians we believe that the WORD of God we hear proclaimed each Sunday is an empowering Word, and that God is present in the Word proclaimed. This is the Word that God wants us to hear today. The dynamic of the Small Christian Community, namely, reflecting on our life-story within the context of this Word, and sharing the insights of these reflections, is such that God’s Spirit becomes present, and the gifts of the Spirit are experienced as empowering and life-giving. Because it is a privileged time, it is incumbent on us in the small group to proclaim God’s Word with due reverence, to be attentive to this proclamation, and respectful of the communal interaction. The facilitator has arranged for group members to proclaim the three readings.)
FIRST READING (Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18)
The Lord spoke to Moses:
“Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbour, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.’”
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
SECOND READING (1 Corinthians 3:16-23)
Brothers and sisters: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
So let no one boast about human beings. For all things are yours – whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or the present or the future – all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
GOSPEL (Matthew 5:38-48)
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, O Lord.
Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, “Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Lectio Divina means “sacred reading” to which prayer is attached. It was a popular form of prayer in the early Church. This Word proclaimed today is God’s own Word, God’s way of speaking to you today through God’s own Spirit. So take a few moments to be quiet, allowing this Word you have just heard to touch you as you reflect quietly on the three readings. Is there a word or thought that somehow attracts you or has your interest? If so, simply identify it—no need to explain it—just identify it.
COMMENTARY:
The first reading from Leviticus reminds the children of Israel, “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God am holy!” They are holy because they have been set apart from other nations, “I am your God, and you are My people.” They are to give witness to the world of what happens when a people freely responds to the love of God. If the Israelites can refrain from having hate in their hearts, if they can renounce vengeance and grudges in relationships, if they can love their neighbours as themselves, then they will be like God, in all God’s holiness. They will be a living witness to the world of the blessings and life that come from the ways of forgiveness. In living this way, they will become more fully the image of God, who is described in the Responsorial Psalm 103 as “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”. All this is addressed in today’s Gospel.
Our second reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians reminds us, “You are God’s holy temple.” We are God’s holy temple, first because we have been created by God, made to His own image. Secondly, by Baptism we have “put on Jesus Christ,” a perfect image of the Father. But this image often becomes tarnished because we are too distracted by the wisdom, and “foolishness” of this world, and too often lose sight of the Wisdom of God, and God’s world.
Matthew’s Gospel today sounds foolish when Jesus teaches us “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, “Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other. Love your enemies and pray for them.”
‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ is an Old Testament teaching which has some merit in it.
Often when people seek revenge, they go overboard and do double the damage, and it keeps expanding. So the law allowed only equal retribution, and this was settled usually by a court of law.
Mahatma Gandhi retorted that if a society applied such a law literally; you would “end up with a toothless, blind society”.
He also is a perfect example of “turning the other cheek” rather than submitting to violence. This was well portrayed in the classic movie “Gandhi” when India was under the occupation of England. Gandhi always insisted on non-violence. There was the scene of the people lined up for many blocks, about 50 men wide, facing the British soldiers on horses with their batons. The front row of this huge line up was bludgeoned to the ground. These were carried off, and the next row was bludgeoned to the ground and they were dragged off. This went on for several days until the British finally relented. This was the beginning of their freedom in India. The people refused to meet violence with violence.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister, in a homily on forgiveness (“Loving Your Enemies,” Alabama, November 17, 1957), insisted that forgiveness alone can stop the cycle of hurt and violence. King wrote, “Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, and toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. That is why we should love our enemies, and that is because hate distorts the personality of the hater. That’s why Jesus says, ‘Love your enemies,’ because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love, is the power of redemption. You just keep loving people, and keep loving them, even though they’re mistreating you. So love your enemies.”
In loving and forgiving our enemies, we become more “God-like” or more “holy,” as God is holy. Why? The answer is because this is the essence of God, who continues to love and forgive us, no matter what our response. God cannot do otherwise. God continues to love and forgive, just as God continues to make the sun rise and shine on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
To love our enemies does not mean to like them, but to wish them well and pray for their conversion. We listen to the angels as they sang to the shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to people of good will (God’s will)”. Many of our “enemies” are of “good will”.