The Sixth and Seventh Sundays in Ordinary Time invite us to deepen our understanding of God’s law and our response to the law. The Gospel during the next two Sundays is taken from St. Matthew 5:17-48. This section follows the sermon on the mount (as we talked about last issue) and contains teachings about the law, anger, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation and love of enemies. Jesus invites us to imitate his response and a path of perfection rich in mercy and hope.
God’s law
Unlike secular authorities, God’s law is eternal. According to the Catechism of The Catholic Church, the revealed law is found in ancient law (Old Testament), notably the Ten Commandments and in the new law (law of the Gospel), the teachings of Jesus, notably in the sermon of the mount, which perfects the ancient law.
Our faith tells us God is the authority. Jesus fulfilled the ancient law, which itself is adherence to the natural law that is timeless and unchanging. God’s law leads us to follow his will and to be happy.
The Holy Spirit empowers Christians to follow the new law, “a law written upon their hearts” (Jer 31:33). Hence, we pray in Psalm 119, “Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord! Instruct me, O Lord, in the way of your statutes, that I may exactly observe them. Give me discernment, that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart” (Ps 119:33-34).
A perfect response
Jesus reiterates the importance of the Ten Commandments, while at the same time invites us to a deeper adherence. Perfection in God’s law comes with love and accountability. Jesus fulfills the sacrificial laws of the old convent through his passion, death and resurrection. His life is the perfect response of how to fully love God and neighbor. We are called to the same: stand firm, trust in his wisdom and know he has prepared eternity for those who truly love him. As we read in Sirach, “If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live” (Sir 15:15).
Fight or flight
There are multiple teachings in this passage, far too many for this article. For this reason, let us concentrate on retaliation and love of neighbor. Jesus turns revenge on its side teaching, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well” (Mt. 5:38-39).
Instead of “getting even,” Jesus teaches us to refrain from hatred, and instead, pray for those who hurt us. We see the reality of the spiritual work of mercy “bear wrongs patiently.”
Pour on the kindness and fight back without your fist or even words for that matter. How can we attain such a response? Some moments are powerful; we are drawn into evil. Of course, we can call upon the Holy Spirit for assistance, for strength to overcome temptation and receive a holy pause to respond.
Bishop Robert Barron in the Catechism series describes two kinds of responses to harm: fight or flight. We can stand firm and “fight” with the love of God, or we can run away. He tells the story of St. Teresa of Calcutta. While she was on the streets of Calcutta holding a starving child by the hand and passing a bakery, she approached the baker and begged for some bread for the child. The baker spat in her face. She did not move but rather, looked at the baker and said, “That was for me, now can you give something for the child?” Fight or flee.
Light of holiness
Jesus teaches, “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly father” (Mt 5:43-45).
As children of the father, we walk in the light of holiness. The Holy Spirit helps us grow in holiness. The graces received through baptism and confirmation open the doors to the power of God’s Spirit, “For he sent the Holy Spirit upon all men that he might move them inwardly to love God with their whole heart and their whole soul, with all their mind and all their strength and that they might love each other as Christ loves them” (Lumen Gentium 40).
Call to holiness
How can I be holy let alone, be perfect, “just as your heavenly father is perfect” (Mt 5:48)? Vatican II teaches, “(Jesus) sent the Holy Spirit upon all that he might move them inwardly to love God with their whole heart and their whole soul, with all their mind and all their strength and that they might love each other as Christ loves them. They must hold on to and perfect in their lives that sanctification which they received from God.”
St. Paul tells us to “put on compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness and patience,”(Col 3:12) acknowledging we are all in constant need of God’s mercy, asking for our debts to be forgiven (Lumen Gentium 40).
St. Thomas Aquinas writes that holiness is a virtue “by which our mind applies itself and all it thinks and does, to God. How does one become a saint? Desire it.”
Lord, help me to be a saint. Send your Holy Spirit. Help me to be perfect as the heavenly father is perfect. Amen.
Dow is the director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Diocese of Baton Rouge.