June 13, 2012 Thursday 10th Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: 2 Cor 3:15- 4:1, 3-6 Gospel: Matthew 5:20-26 Jesus said to the crowds, “I tell you, then, that if you are not righteous in a much broader way than the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. “You have heard that it was said to our people in the past: Do not commit murder; anyone who does kill 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 deserves to be brought before the council; whoever calls a brother or a sister ‘Fool’ deserves to be 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 him, 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.” D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience) Jesus begins a series of discourses on proper Christian conduct. He justifies each with legal basis from existing laws or precepts (“you have heard it said”) and with his own teaching (“but now I tell you”). As regards murder, for example, he cites a provision from Exodus as basis: “Do not commit murder (see Exodus 20:13); anyone who does kill will have to face trial (see Exodus 21:12)”. He then adds his own teaching saying, “Whoever gets angry with a brother or sister will have to face trial…” Jesus wants to prohibit even expressions of anger because most killings start therefrom. He even prohibits the calling of another person a “fool” because most murders are triggered by similar insults. The Aramaic word used in the original is “reqa” which means “imbecile”. Clinically this term refers to a form of mental retardation where a person’s mental age stagnates at seven. In common parlance this is “stupid” – a term used to insult or verbally abuse a person. The bottom line is that a disciple must address sin from its roots. The seriousness of punishment that Jesus mentions is in ascending order. The first is judgment by a local council (“Whoever insults a brother or sister deserves to be brought before the council”), the second is trial before the Sanhedrin –the highest judicial body in Judaism (“be reconciled with your opponent quickly when you are together on the way to court…”), the third is condemnation to Hell (whoever calls a brother or a sister “Fool” deserves to be thrown into the fire of hell). These punishments are heavy enough to make us understand that Jesus is serious about his demand for deeper spirituality. - Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:dan.delosangeles@gmail. Website: frdan.org. Prayer for the day: God our Father, grant us the grace to go deeper in the observance of our faith. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Title: Deeper spirituality CHURCH BULLETIN: SAINT OF THE DAY: St. Anthony de Padua. He was born at Lisbon, Portugal in 1195. At 15 he joined the Augustinian monks of Coimbra but later joined the Franciscan Order. After sometime he was sent to Africa to preach to the Muslims. But soon he was afflicted by severe illness, and a few months later he had to return to Portugal. But the ship in which he sailed was driven off its course and landed in Sicily. His superiors sent him to preach throughout Italy and France. Wherever he went, crowds flocked and many were converted by his knowledge of the Bible. He spent the last years of his life at Padua where he died at the age of 36. He is usually presented with the Holy Infant because at one time he was seen holding the Child Jesus He is invoked to find lost articles because one day, when a novice ran away carrying off a Psalter, the saint prayed for its recovery, and the thief was compelled by an apparition to return it.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 21:12:42 +0000
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