a lawless blog

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Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

19th February 2023

Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18

The LORD said to Moses,
"Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them:
Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.

"You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart.
Though you may have to reprove your fellow citizen,
do not incur sin because of him.
Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people.
You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
I am the LORD."

From Psalm 103

R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.

He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.

Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.

As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.

1 Corinthians 3:16-23

Brothers and sisters:
Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person;
for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.

Let no one deceive himself.
If any one among you considers himself wise in this age,
let him become a fool, so as to become wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God,
for it is written:
God catches the wise in their own ruses,
and again:
The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are vain.

So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you,
Paul or Apollos or Cephas,
or the world or life or death,
or the present or the future:
all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.

Matthew 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 is 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 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,
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,

No New Laws in the New Law

Lately I've been trying out the question: How would I explain this to my secular neighbour? Eventually the penny drops! I can't explain anything until it is clear to me. First get it straight in your own head; then you might be able to talk about it using your own words and metaphors and applying it to life as you experience it. Your secular neighbour just might find it interesting.

My heading for this reflection plays on the anomaly that the New Law is not a law at all, unless of course we think of the 'law of love'. But there too law needs to be in “_”. Love and law are opposites. Love is identified with free choice. For those who love there is no law. As Augustine put it: Ama et fac quod vis. Love, and do whatever you want. It sounds shocking at first, until you go deeper into what love is, and then it makes perfect sense.

We love someone when we wish them all good things. We want, with a burning desire, that they be fulfilled in life, enriched so as to eventually reach maturity, and be happy along the way. When they're no longer around, when they die, we miss them terribly and regret every opportunity we had, but missed, to contribute to their happiness.

This so-called “Law” of Love is the heart and soul of the Way Jeshua taught and lived. It's all about willingness and total commitment; the kind of thing we experience as 'love' towards our partner. When you want only the good and all good for the other you actually cannot find anything else attractive; you can't wish for anything else to the same degree. When you love (to recall Augustine again) the only thing you want to do will be whatever is for the other's well-being and happiness.

Love is a stranger to measurement and calculation. With love it's all or nothing. There's no cost/profit calculation, no 'This much and no more', not even a time limit. With love it's all giving and with joy. That's the way Jesus is suggesting we should live, and that's how we should read the commandments, as a law of love, not to be taken on half-heartedly but to be lived to the fullest. That's how to relate to Ultimate Reality we call God.

There's as lifetime's learning to do here. In hindsight we see how hesitant has been our love over the years. To see it eventually is the greatest of blessings while there' still time to want that total unconditional giving of the self, but it's curious that it takes so long to get to the heart of it. Sometimes even to begin.

.....

Recently I saw a movie, The Light between Two Oceans, in which a baby had disappeared, probably drowned. In fact it had been found by a couple living an isolated life, and they kept it as their own - until they were discovered. Charged with kidnapping and the murder of the father, they were destined to a long term in prison if not the death penalty. At the last moment the child's birthmother who now had her daughter safely home, intervened in their favour and asked for leniency. Afterwards the police inspector asked her how could she speak for them like that, and she said: 'You only have to forgive once.'

It was easier for her to forgive and have done with it. The fires of resentment and anger need stoking every day and that becomes a wearying obsession which robs you of any chance for peace. Forgiving actually releases the pressure even though it takes time for feelings to settle, and perhaps they never will.

I find this a good illustration of how love works. Jeshua raises the old law to a new level which in fact turns out to be much easier to live. You've heard it said, You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy, But I say, love your enemies..., don't let yourself get taken over by anger. Anger is exhausting. To want the other's good is so much easier. It is energising too. We grow stronger with love while with hate we are consumed.

How can you love an enemy? The first level of love is respect. You respect them as a fellow human being, of equal dignity and value as yourself. Respect for what they are doesn't take much effort, even if you continue to feel the hurt they have done you. Then you want their good – that they sort out their life and get rid of whatever negativity it is that led to their hurting you. Your wanting this is already praying for them, as Jeshua says we should.

That first step towards respecting your enemy is the hardest of all. You have to go deep inside and work out why you resist the very idea; why you despise that person. With enough reflection you may come to see an ugly streak in your make-up. Even if you can't work out where it comes from you will come to despise that flaw more than you despise your enemy. The more so because you don't know their story or whatever compulsion they were under at the time.

It's all downhill from here, until we take-off and fly, fueled by total love, wanting only one thing. This makes life so simple it is totally enjoyable. You can do anything for love - with love – and never see it as a chore, even when it's killing you, even though the hurt and sense of loss remain.

...

On Wednesday we start our Lenten exercises. Let's see how all this might apply to Lent. We've heard it said the goal of Lent is to purify oneself by penances, fasting and prayer. I don't like Lent. It turns me off completely, probably because I like to be kind to myself!

Now, I wonder is that fair? Or is the problem really that Lent has been imposed with negative ideas, harsh painful practices and even threats. Could it be presented another way?

Today I see it as a wonderful opportunity as we approach Jerusalem to witness again the moment of Jeshua's triumph, his glorification as John calls it. They'll get him. He will lose the battle to survive, but they will not win. In his accepting that death lies his victory, celebrated in his return to life a couple of days later. And while death is always a bitter pill to swallow, we choose to love the goal at the end of this journey which is the good of all humankind to bring glory to the Father. That's how Jeshua saw it; we need to align with his attitude and walk with him.

We want to love that good with all our energy, and in a way that puts it first and foremost; make it the 'only' thing we love at this ultimate level of life's total purpose.

I was wondering how you could put a sparkle of love into Ash Wednesday. It's a dreary day with a dreary ritual when someone rubs some ash on your forehead and tells you you're only dust and that's where you'll end up, in the ground, turning into dirt.

What about 'stardust'? That's a notion growing in popularity both with the scientifically-minded who look at the chemistry of life and the system of the Cosmos, and with the romantics who think of stardust as a shower of sparkles falling to earth.

Let's have sparkles in our ritual! The meaning now would be that this journey of Lent will lead to that point where we all sparkle with a love that is willing and total, peaceful and supremely happy.