Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Mt 5: 20-26
June 15, 2023 | Thursday

Today’s Gospel

I tell you, if your sense of right and wrong is not keener than that of the Lawyers and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

You have heard, that it was said to our people in the past: Do not commit murder; anyone who murders will have to face trial. But now, I tell you: whoever gets angry with a brother or sister will have to face trial. Whoever insults a brother or sister is liable, to be brought before the council. Whoever calls a brother or sister “Fool!” is liable, of being thrown into the fire of hell. So, if you are about to offer your gift at the altar, and you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there, in front of the altar; go at once, and make peace with your brother, and then come back and offer your gift to God.

Don’t forget this: be reconciled with your opponent quickly when you are together on the way to court. Otherwise he will turn you over to the judge, who will hand you over to the police, who will put you in jail. There, you will stay, until you have paid the last penny.

Today’s Reflection:

The lawyers and Pharisees fall short in pleasing God because their obedience and fidelity are centered only on external gestures. There is nothing wrong with external gestures since it is also part of God’s pedagogy to prescribe and stipulate a holy lifestyle and habit to which His followers must subscribe. But these structures are meant to educate and form one’s heart, and not as empty ends for themselves. One way of determining if one is practicing the faith appropriately is to discern if their piety caused them to be just and merciful, or if it unrightfully caused them to be either complacent or hateful with others. After all, God introduced the structures of a holy lifestyle for this purpose – to aid us in cultivating a heart that may grow in mirroring His own divine heart before Him and others. /Vulnerasti, 2023 

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