BÁNH SỰ SỐNG - CHA BRIAN 7TH SUNDAY A
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- Category: 4. Bánh Sự Sống
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Mo Nguyen - Feb 22 at 5:16 AMSEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR A
23 February 2020
FOR I AM THE PERFECT FATHER
REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL
‘BE PERFECT AS YOUR
HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT’
(Mt 5: 38 -48)
Jesus’ reinterpretation of the Jewish law (Torah) in today’s Gospel focuses upon retaliation and love of enemies.
In the tribal situation of early Israel, where institutions of justice were barely established, the law of strict reciprocity in regard to injury (‘an eye for an eye’, etc.) sought to contain and limit the spiral of violence – to bring ‘pay back’ to a closure that all parties would recognise as fair.
Jesus, however, commends a readiness to disarm violence by being prepared to accept double what the perpetrator requires. This may be unrealistic on the level of society as a whole where evil and evildoers must be resisted and restrained. If, in the face of injury and unreasonable demand, disciples of Jesus, on an individual or small group level (as, for example, in Christian non-violent protest), do adopt such a stance, their freedom to do so will stem from consciousness of the far greater generosity they have themselves received from God.
Likewise, Jesus resists the general human tendency to hate one’s enemies in the name of the disposition and action of God, whose ‘children’ his disciples know themselves to be. They will truly show themselves God’s children if they reflect the divine action in this radical way.
In conclusion, Jesus offers a definition of what it means to be ‘perfect’: ‘You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ The stress here falls upon the little word ‘as’: perfection means acting towards others, including one’s enemies, as the Creator acts towards all, good and bad alike.
Brendan Byrne, SJ
lds music - perfect love:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Gj8-vB1q4
Good, Good Father - Chris Tomlin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfJrxvVnmkE
Thánh Ca: Giúp Nhau Hoàn Thiện - Trình bày: Đình Trinh