Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1
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 neighbor as yourself.
I am the LORD."
Responsorial Psalm
R. (8a) 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.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
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.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
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.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Reading 2
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.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever keeps the word of Christ,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Do you think we take gospel injunctions of this kind seriously enough or do we think of them as just a joke, a bit of hyperbole? It's a good question because, compared to other Christian churches, Catholics do not score at the top for good or exemplary moral behaviour. Perhaps we follow the example of early Irish convicts and settlers who had a tendency to be against the system, and that landed too many of them in the lockup.
If you take these samples literally (and there's not much room for symbolic interpretations), then we can only be gobsmacked.
We're in the realm of total pacificism, of forgiveness when revenge seems the only response a red-blooded man or woman - or clan or nation - would give in a situation, of unrestrained giving which looks like foolishness to everybody. "You'll learn!" they say. Is it wise t o try to live such a radical life?
Yet they are the standards of the kingdom of God that we would all love to see realised in our lifetime, when we don't have to lock our doors or use passwords on our bank accounts, where debt collectors are passe and the police don't carry guns any more. And I see it, the gospel makes this a challenge to each person individually. My contribution to the kingdom will be in adopting these standards as my normal way of thinking. The change of mind and heart takes a lifetime and is never finished.
Furthermore, and perhaps the most concerning aspect of this, people don't expect you to be [i\that[/i] generous. Presently I'm disposing of a good number of items which decorated our house and which Sue loved. There's a real prospect that they will go holus bolus to the tip if I don't sort out what's valuable and pack it off to someone who will value it. So a few people drop by and I say, 'Would you like any of these things?' Mostly the answer is 'No' but now and then someone who is also a collector will say, 'Oh, I'd love that and that and that...' But when I refuse to take their money they are taken aback and they say "Oh. I couldn't take it without paying!' With a hint there's something wrong with me! 'You can't just give things away,' they say.