FIRST READING: Sirach 15: 15-20. If you will, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice. He has placed before you fire and water: stretch out your hand for whichever you wish. Before a man are life and death, and whichever he chooses will be given to him. For great is the wisdom of the Lord; he is mighty in power and sees everything; his eyes are on those who fear him, and he knows every deed of man. He has not commanded anyone to be ungodly, and he has not given anyone permission to sin. EXPLANATION: The book of Sirach (which used to be called Ecclesiasticus), is one of the Wisdom books of the Old Testament. It treats of good morals and the true religious philosophy of life. It was written in Hebrew, about 180 B.C., by a man who called himself Joshua ben Eleazer ben Sirach. His grandson translated it into Greek, in Egypt in the year 132 B.C., so that his fellow-Jews, who lived in Egypt and had forgotten their native language (Hebrew), could learn from it much practical wisdom to help them live according to the Mosaic law. This book has still much practical wisdom for us Christians, and today's reading from it is a proof of this. If you . . . commandments: Sirach has no doubts whatsoever that man has a free will. He is responsible for his deliberate actions. God gave the ten commandments through Moses. They are obligatory on those who know them, and no man can say that he was forced by any circumstances to disobey them.
to act faithfully: A parallelism, a Hebrew method of emphasis. You act faithfully, you keep God's law, when you choose to do so and the choice is yours to make. You are a free agent.
fire . . . wish: God wants a free, willing service. Fire and water represent what is destructive: sin; and what is good and useful: virtue. God gives each man the freedom to choose.
life and death: Another parallelism. Life and death are like water and fire: the latter destroys, the former vivifies. It is not, probably, that the author was here referring to eternal life and eternal death, but rather to true life on earth, that is, the willing service of God as opposed to disloyalty to God which was a form of death---a useless life.
wisdom . . . Lord: He now extols the mighty wisdom of the Lord; through it he can do all things and knows all things.
eyes . . . him: He takes account of those who reverence him and keep his law. "Fear of the Lord," in the Old Testament, means reverence and respect for his infinite wisdom and majesty.
knows every deed: Nothing is hidden from him, and the actions of men are especially noted (unlike the actions of the lower creatures) for reward or punishment.
commanded . . . to he ungodly: Nobody can claim that his ungodly acts are done because God wanted it so. No one has permission from God to sin. The sinner has only himself to blame, and he must realize that God too will blame him, for he was free to avoid sin. APPLICATION: Any Christian parent or teacher could give us these words of truth and wisdom, and they would be of great value if we heeded them. But this same advice comes to us today not from any human authority but from God himself, who inspired and moved the man called Sirach to write these words of wisdom, which were to last and have value, for all ages and generations of men. We might question a parent's or a teacher's wisdom, or their right, to tell us of our personal responsibility for our actions, but who can question or challenge God's wisdom, or God's right, to teach us the truth concerning ourselves? We have received the gift of free-will from God. We know that we can serve God by keeping his commandments, or that we can disrespect his authority and refuse to keep his law. Having given us free-will, he cannot force us to be loyal or grateful to him. But if we had not free-will, we should be like the beast of the field who can neither honor nor dishonor God. From the dumb beast God does not expect, nor much less demand, obedience. But from us men, to whom he gave the gifts which put us above all earthly creatures, intelligence and free-will, he does expect and demand obedience and loyal service. Let us listen to this man Sirach today who speaks to us in God's name. We can keep God's commandments, and we know we can. We can choose to do good or to do evil, but if we choose evil we cannot say we could not help doing so. We might fool a fellowman by this false line of defense, but the all-wise God who "sees everything" and "knows every deed of man" cannot be deceived. But what decent man and especially what decent Christian, who knows the lengths the good God has gone to in order to give us eternal life, would want to deceive him or be disloyal to him? Ours is a religion of love, we do not and ought not, avoid sin because we should thereby bring sufferings, and perhaps eternal death, upon ourselves. We avoid sin because it is an insult to our loving Father in heaven, who sent his divine Son on earth to live, suffer and die for us, in order to give us eternal life with the Blessed Trinity in heaven. It should be hard for any true Christian deliberately to offend such a kind, loving Father. For those among us, who may have forgotten God's love for them, and may have broken his commandments, let them thank God that their hour of reckoning is not already upon them. They may have written many shameful pages in their life's story, but they have not yet finished writing it. There is still time to tear out, or erase from their biography, those pages they should not have written. The loving Father is also the all-merciful, all-forgiving Father. No sinner, no matter how sordid and shameful his actions and his disrespect for God may have been, will turn to him asking for pardon and find his request was in vain. But the sinner who keeps on postponing this return to God and continues to offend him, may find himself in the presence of the just judge when he least expects it. God's mercy is infinite, but he cannot pardon the free agent who does not want pardon. Notwithstanding his infinite love for all men, he cannot welcome home the prodigals who will not return home.
SECOND READING: 1 Cor. 2:6-10. Among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him," God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. EXPLANATION. Today's reading is a continuation of last Sunday's, in which St. Paul impressed on his converts of Corinth that the Christian faith they had received was a gift from God. They were converted from Judaism and (for the most part) from paganism, not by any oratorical gifts of Paul, nor by any earthly wisdom or philosophy, but by the grace and power of God. In today's pericope he says he has true wisdom to give to those capable of receiving it, but it is a very different wisdom of God, now being revealed to those who are willing to learn it.
among . . . mature: Mature, not only in age but in progress and practice of the Christian faith-spiritual men as opposed to the materially-minded (see 3:1).
rulers . . . age: He is referring to the pagan (Roman) and Jewish authorities of that time. Their wisdom is of this world. It prevented the pagan Romans from recognizing God in his works as Creator (Rom. 1: 19-20), and it blinded the Jewish leaders so that they could not recognize the Messiah in Christ Jesus, notwithstanding all the proofs he gave them.
doomed . . . pass away: Their power will come to an end. That of the Jews ended some fourteen years later in 70 A.D. The Roman empire ended some centuries afterwards.
secret . . . God: God's eternal plan for man's glorification and elevation to sonship, to be brought about by the Incarnation of his divine Son, Christ (see Eph. 3: 10; Col. 1: 15). This divine eternal plan is now being revealed fully in the Christian religion, which St. Paul and his fellow-apostles are preaching. The Jews had an inkling of this plan of God in their messianic prophecies, but the vast majority of them refused to believe it possible.
they . . . glory: It was not Pilate, the Roman authority whose hand was forced by the Jewish leaders, but these very leaders who crucified Christ, because they looked on him as a blasphemer who claimed to be God. St. Paul says he was God: "the Lord of glory" was a Jewish title for Yahweh, the true God.
as it is written: Paul is citing no explicit text of Scripture, but what he says is reminiscent of Is. 64:3 and 65:16.
no eye . . . men: What God has prepared for those who love him surpasses all human comprehension. Our finite, limited minds, and powers in this life are incapable of forming any concept of what the bounty of the infinite God is like, and what the nature of the eternal happiness he has prepared for us is.
God . . . Spirit: Christians, says St. Paul, have been fortunate in that God's eternal plan for man's elevation and final glorification has been revealed to them, partially by Christ himself, but especially by the Holy Spirit whom he sent, as he had promised, on Pentecost day. On that day the spreading of the Good News of God's infinite love for men began with Peter's first sermon to the multitude of Jews, who had gathered outside the Upper Room (see Acts 2:14-40). APPLICATION: The mental outlook of the world of today is little changed from that of St. Paul's day. The philosophy and the wisdom of the rulers of this age, and unfortunately not only of those rulers, is still earth-bound and worldly. The things of God are openly denied in a large section of our world, while he is shamefully ignored and neglected in the remaining sections which nominally believe in him. Nations, and most of their citizens, are bending all their energies to obtain more and more of the passing, perishable wealth and power of this miserable planet. We are living in a welter of international, limited wars, while all the time the threat of global war, and universal destruction, is hanging like a dark thunder cloud on our horizon. We have advanced technically beyond the wildest dreams of our forebears, but every technical advance which could and should be a boon for humanity, is turned instead into a possible instrument of human extermination. The brotherhood of man is no longer accepted as a basic human tenet, and it is little wonder, since the fatherhood of God is denied in practice as well as in theory. And it is not only in apartheid and color-prejudiced countries that segregation and suppression of the weaker brethren is practiced, but also, and maybe more so, in the so-called free democracies. The big business tycoons of today are the counterparts of the Roman slave-drivers. Their shares and their bank accounts are their household gods. Their workers and their poorer neighbors are far less concern to them than their Cadillac's, their yachts and their racehorses. They hold solemn funeral rites for their pet dogs, and erect tombstones over their graves, but their charwomen, living in squalor, are not given a spare thought nor a spare dime. But what is worse, this pagan and inhuman worldly philosophy spreads down like a poison gas through the ranks of the less successful middle and lower-middle classes. This is the direct result of our forgetfulness of, or rather our ignoring, the only true wisdom of life. The eternal happiness of man, planned by God's wisdom and love from all eternity, and effected and revealed in the Incarnation, has been forgotten. Modem man, like the pagans of old, thinks his home and his true happiness are on this earth, hence he rides roughshod over his weaker neighbor, to get all he can out of the few years he realizes he has to enjoy himself. A return to sanity in our world can be brought about only by a return to a recognition of God's plan for us. Our time on earth is a journey to heaven. The less we load ourselves with this world's goods or interests, the easier our journey will be. The more we help out fellow-travelers on this journey (and this includes all men), the safer and the smoother will be our own travel. Our true happiness, our everlasting happiness, will begin only when we arrive at our earthly journey's end. If we keep on the path marked out for us by our loving heavenly Father, and if we practice true brotherly love on the way, we can rest assured that our journey will not have been in vain.
GOSPEL: Matt. 5:20-22; 27-28; 33-34; 37. Shorter Form. Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Again you have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all. Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil." EXPLANATION: We are still in St. Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. In today's section of it, we find our Lord quoting some of the ten commandments, given by God to Moses, and adding to them. This he does on his own authority: "I say to you," thus putting himself on a level with God, which, as he was God, he could do.
Unless . . . exceeds: The scribes and Pharisees were most rigorous in their external observance of the law of Moses, but this observance of the law lacked true sincerity of heart, and was not done out of charity. They sought the praise of their fellowman, and thus spoils all their good actions (see the parable of the Pharisee and the publican in the temple, Lk. 18: 10-14). Christ tells his disciples and followers that their observance, their religion, must be better than that---they must obey God's commands out of love and true sincerity, or they will not be worthy of heaven.
You . . . kill: Our Lord not only confirms this commandment but adds to it. Murder begins in the mind. Anger unchecked, or worse still, nourished with brooding over one's real or imaginary injuries, can and often does lead to murder.
not . . . adultery: Again he stresses the need for internal self-restraint. Lustful thoughts, looks and desires, will not always lead to an external act, but they are already sinful in themselves and are conducive to the external act.
not swear . . . sworn: Calling God as a witness that what one says is true, when it is not, or as a guarantor of one's false promise or vow, is a direct and serious insult to the God of truth and justice. Christ demands more. One should be so truthful, and so faithful in keeping one's promises, that to swear by God should not be necessary. A yes or a no, a simple promise, should be enough if one is honest with God, with his neighbor, and with his own conscience. APPLICATION: In this Sermon on the Mount, we have various sayings of Christ, actually spoken on different occasions. Matthew, in his systematic manner, has gathered these sayings into one continuous discourse here. This makes it easier for his readers, who were Jewish converts, to grasp the new order of salvation as inaugurated by Christ. They knew the ten commandments, but they knew them as their rabbis had taught them. These rabbis, for the most part Pharisees, put all the stress on the letter of the law and on its external observance. Christ's opening statement, that the attitude of his followers towards the commandments (and other precepts of the law) must be different, and superior to that of the scribes and Pharisees, clearly indicates how Christianity must differ from, and supersede, Judaism. Christ is not abolishing the ten commandments, but he is demanding of his followers a more perfect, a more sincere, fulfillment of them. The whole moral value of any legal observance (the Mosaic law included), comes from the interior disposition of him who observes or keeps the law. No man serves or honors God by any exterior acts, be they ever so arduous or continuous, unless these acts proceed from an intention and a will to honor and please God. This is the charter, the constitution, of the new law, Christianity. The old law is not abolished, but deepened and given a new life. Avoiding murder therefore is not enough; the true Christian must remove any inclination to murder by building up true, brotherly love for all men in his heart. We must not only not injure our neighbor or fellowman in his person, or in his character, but we must be ever ready to help him and prevent injury to him, whenever and wherever we can. We must not only not commit adultery, but must also develop a Christian respect and esteem for purity, the virtue which will preserve us not only from adultery but even from thoughts of adultery, or any other abuse of our sexual gifts given us by God for his sublime purpose. We must be truthful always, and men of our word. This virtue is not only necessary for man's salvation, but is the basis of rational intercourse between men in civilized society. While our civil courts still deem it necessary to impose oaths on contestants and witnesses (since they have, unfortunately, to take account of the liars and deceivers who still are a menace to society), the truthful man need not be afraid of insulting or dishonoring God by calling him as his guarantor, if asked to do so. True and loyal service of God therefore begins in the heart and has its value from this interior disposition. Keeping the ten commandments is our way of proving to God that we are grateful, obedient and loyal to him who gave us all we have and who has promised us future gifts infinitely greater still. And just as our love for God is proved by our true love for our neighbor, so the last seven of the commandments impose on us obligations regarding our neighbor. It is only by fulfilling these seven that we can fulfill the first three which govern our relations with God. This truth is expressed by our Lord in the words: It you are offering your gift at the altar, and remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there . . . first be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift.-a098
Click to return to our Home page
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please enter comments in a calm, clear, cogent manner