February 19th 2023.
Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
GOSPEL: Mt 5:38-48
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio
Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel
GOSPEL: Mt 5:38-48
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, offer no resistance to one who does evil.
When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well.
If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well.
Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles.
Give to the one who asks of you,
and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.
“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,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ
1. Is this Gospel speaking of something extraordinary? An impossible ideal? No! We each need this extraordinary love if our relationships are to survive!
On this seventh Sunday of ordinary time, we arrive at a radical and paradoxical part of the Sermon on the Mount. “I say to you, offer no resistance to one who does evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles.” We really need to de-mystify this discourse, for if we try to measure up to such a call for radical love with our own impoverished capacities, we will not succeed. This is not human love but the divine love that Christ brought to earth. I might think that this kind of love is for a saint but is not possible for me. It is a Gospel that speaks of the extraordinary. It is natural to think that it is not something that I can aspire to, but this would be wrong! We need to live this kind of greatness. Young people cannot live according to mediocre ideals. A married couple cannot stay together if their love does not rise to this level. This kind of love is not an impossible dream. We absolutely need to be able to love someone who doesn’t deserve it at that moment. This is not something strange or abnormal. It is normal that in every relationship we will at some point bring out the sin, the evil, that we have inside. If other people cannot have mercy on us at these times, then how can the relationship survive? Every relationship arrives at a point of fracture where it is necessary to love the other person when they wound us, disappoint us, treat us badly. Without this love, enduring relationships are impossible.
2. This Gospel is not an ethical system but a revelation of the nature of the fatherhood of God
This Gospel is not just sublime hyperbole but is a concrete necessity for our lives. It ends with the words, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”. Thus, it is not a question of being strong and morally upright, but a question of being children of the Father. He is the backbone of our lives. He loved us and forgave us even when we did not deserve it. From him we gain the strength to welcome others in their poverty because we ourselves have been accepted in our poverty. This Gospel is not so much a description of a sublime ethical system as it is a description of our heavenly Father, for this is exactly how he has behaved towards us. This passage describes Christ, who has borne the burden of our sin and turned the other cheek to us. We treated him badly but he stripped himself of everything for our sake. From the contemplation of this love, from the memory of this love, by living this love from within, it becomes possible for us to show mercy towards others.
3. We are the ones who slapped Christ, who forced him to walk an extra mile. It is we who need this merciful love from him!
We might be inclined to place ourselves among the victims when we read this Gospel, but it is we who slap on the other cheek, we who constrain the Lord to walk another mile. Above all, it is we ourselves who need this love to be real! Otherwise, we will drown in the swamp of our own sins. This Gospel is a manifestation of the nature of God, which is revealed in the lives of the children of God. By virtue of our baptism, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, we too have the possibility to live this love. Already, the desire to live according to this love dispels many deceptions that we could fall prey to, for it teaches us that what we must do is live a life of mercy, not a life of being recompensed for the wrongs done to us by others.
ALTERNATIVE HOMILY
In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus asks us to love our enemies. Does he really mean that? Maybe this text needs to be interpreted in a less radical way? How can we hope to forgive others the hurt they have done us? How can we learn to love unconditionally? But, if we think about it, each one of us longs to be loved, forgiven and accepted completely in just this way! The human heart needs to encounter exactly this kind of love. Also, we need to be able to give this type of love and forgiveness. It is only when we forgive others that we are able to let go of the hurt they have inflicted upon us. How can we achieve this kind of love, however? Surely it is impossible? Too often, we fail to achieve this level of “perfection” or completion because we rely on our own efforts. If my love is the fruit of my own efforts, my own discipline, my own commitment, then I will fail miserably! It is my Father in heaven that is the origin of unconditional love! We are only creatures and cannot love by our own efforts. Our love is a love of response, a love that replicates the love we have been shown by our heavenly Father. He loves us unconditionally and forgives all our faults. When I remember how many times God has loved and forgiven me, then I become capable of loving and forgiving others. The evil and unjust people that Jesus speaks of in the Gospel are us! God makes his sun shine upon us despite our faults. He makes the rain fall upon us despite our sins. We are the ones who stripped Jesus of his tunic before his crucifixion. We are the ones who made Jesus walk the extra mile that he refers to in this Gospel passage. Yet he is holy and full of love and has forgiven us completely. If our image of God is one of a cold and distant judge, then we will not find it in us to be loving and merciful. But if we contemplate that our God is loving and merciful, then we will discover the strength to do likewise. If we wish to be perfect, if we wish to be complete, then let us meditate on the holiness, mercy and paternity of God.
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