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Homily of February 20 - 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Church St Simeon - The door frame - 19/02/11 - 18:30
Church St Etienne - Origné - 20/02/11 - 10:30
7th Sunday in Ordinary Time A
(Text: Lev 19.1 - 2.17-18 - Psalm 102 to 1 3.16 to 23 Co - Mt from 5.38 to 48)

Welcoming remarks:

Brothers and sisters,

Do not respond to the offense, seeking to allay discord, pray for his enemies ... so many attitudes that are deeply those of Christ, as He calls us attitudes to cultivate in our lives, to be his disciples in deed and in truth.

Homily:

Brothers and sisters,

We continue our reading of this Sunday Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. We hear today the last two of the five examples chosen by Jesus to explain how he himself came to "fulfill" the law: he invites us to like him, surpassing the usual conduct of the people "reasonable."

First, Christ invites us to reject violence :

You have heard that was said: "An eye for eye, tooth for tooth."
Well, I tell you not to respond to the wicked;
- but if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
- if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your coat.
- And if anyone forces you to mile, two miles in doing with it.
- Give to everyone who asks you;
- do not turn away from him that would borrow.

Let us be clear: the law of retaliation in the history of humanity and the Alliance, was a step forward. To overcome the natural tendency of man to seek revenge by making a lot more wrong with the man who had offended or hurt, the law provides for punishment of retaliation that is exactly proportional to the crime. Proportionate punishment for the offense, it is always, somehow, the principle of our human justice.

But Jesus calls us to overcome this need for punishment: to break the circle of the response, he calls, giving examples, to live a great self-control. The radical choice of non-violence is quite in harmony with the call to be servants of others, to be salt of the earth and light of the world.

Thus, the image of Christ, the disciple can become a "lamb of God" who would rather suffer injury rather than to give. We can, however, that is what Jesus said to himself: the self-control before the offense is not to be invoked when we witness the evil done to someone else. In this case, love of neighbor requires us to the aid of the victim.

Finally, Jesus taught love of enemies :

You have heard that it hath been said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." Well I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, to be truly the son of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you? Publicans themselves do not they do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what do you more? The pagans did not they do the same?

One might say two things: firstly that it is better not to have enemies, and secondly that the teaching of Jesus is unworkable! Jesus invites us to experience the extraordinary! If we are not going that far, are we really different?

already teaching on the failure to respond to the insult is not clear, but then he asks us to love those who hate us! We can of course not love everyone the same way, and love that Christ calls us to be our enemies is not what we bring to our families. He is not seeking to harm the enemy, not to seek revenge, and have a place for him in our prayers.

Surprising? And why not? If one considers that any person who allows himself to do evil is lost and need God's light to find the path of peace and love, why not to invoke the grace of God for our enemies ? It is not always necessary to know who's wrong or who is right, what is important is finding the path that will break the opposition.

When we pray, we can not content ourselves pray for the happiness of those we love, those who like us, those who think like us. Our prayer, if it is truly Christian is necessarily universal: that every man and woman in our world is discovering deep love of God.

Yes, Christ calls us to the extraordinary, beyond mere human justice. And he gives us the reference for this is the best:

So be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Thus, there is no 36 questions to ask: the reference for our actions, our words, our decisions, it is God himself. If only we could have this kind of reaction in any circumstance, try to look at the situation through the eyes of our heavenly Father! Then we would fullness that we have become through baptism: children of God, the Body of Christ.

Amen.

David Journault †