OMELIE / Omelie EN

26/6/2016

12/02/2017 – 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time –Year A

12/02/2017 – 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time –Year A 

1st reading Sir 15,15-20 * From Psalm 118/119 * 2^nd reading 1Cor 2,6-10 * Gospel Mt 5,17-37

“If you want to observe His commandments, they will treasure you: if you trust the Lord, you will live forever”. When people talk about the commandments, we easily think that these are limitation of our freedom, and almost instinctively, we feel a sort of rejection.

But we cannot think that God, our Father, is giving us commandments which are bad for us, as if he enjoys forbidding us what we like: He would never prohibit us something which is good to us and which makes us good! Even Adam and Eve were tempted to think the same: “God cheats on you, don’t listen to him! God is jealous. Do whatever you like to do, and thus stay well!”. The book of Ecclesiasticus will help us to consider the words of God as words of the Father who knows everything about our life, the consequences of our behavior too.

His commandments are precious for us: they are indications, that, at first sights appear the contrary of our desires, but God wants to avoid consequences and sufferings that we will certainly experience, even if long term. God sees further than us and he wants us to avoid big sorrows. “For vast is the wisdom of the Lord; he is almighty and all-seeing. He never commanded anyone to be godless, he has given no one permission to sin”. Many times you can hear saying God should not permit...Infact God does not permit many things: these things happen just because someone disobeys Him. Man, in his arrogance, consider himself more intelligent of God, and sometimes even more capable of loving, as much to justify his disobedience to God's commands. And so, soon or later, he gets into troubles.

Τhis is the same reasoning the apostle offers us. He speaks of human wisdom and divine wisdom. Human wisdom seems wisdom, but we soon realize that is misleading us. Human wisdom rates only what is considered good for humans, but they are seduced by selfishness which rules their reasoning. Human wisdom is supported by the majority of men or by the opinion of international organizations and powerful people: but they too are limited.  The divine wisdom is “in the mystery” and humans cannot get to know it, unless they try to enter into “the mystery”! The mystery is the heart of the Father, it is his love which became man in Jesus, it is that love leading Jesus to mix with the sinners who were waiting along the river Jordan, it was always with that love He did show Himself supportive to the sinners at the Calvary. Whoever wants to exclude the mystery of the cross from his own life and from the life of the family and society, cannot even come within touching distance to divine wisdom.

Today Jesus offers us some examples how reading the commandments with divine wisdom, with that wisdom that enlighten the mystery of the cross. He assures above all that His way, new, of reading the commandments does not cancel them neither ignore them. They are the Word of God, and the Word of God must be read with love, because it was with love that was given to us. Reading the Word of God in the Pharisees ‘way is not only insufficient, but it can be misleading. In fact He does not read the commandments so that we can still find the way to save our egoistic nature, or they let us be egoistic with the consideration of being good believers.

The commandment says: “Do not kill”. If you read it with the love of the Father, who gives His life, you will never dare saying you are observer of the law simply because you never killed. Killing means taking away life. If with gestures and words I limit life, that is, if I deprive someone of joy and peace, of love and trust, I will start to destroy the work of the Father, disturbing Brothers ‘Lives. For this reason the commandment it is observed when I am patient, when I love the brother, even the one who  cannot act in  the same way to me. Also the sixth commandment: “Do not commit adultery” in the heart of the Father does include not having any sexual relationship with a person who is not your wife or husband. Adultery starts from the heart, and starts with not being able to hold back feelings or the way you look to someone. The father urge you  to watch yourself before this actions will lead you to adultery. Dominate your eye: avoid the mundane shows, even those provided by the means of communication.

And  dominate your hand: the way you greet a person may become dangerous: don't ever stop, not even for a coffee in a bar...if you start, you will be caught by sympathy! The hand may also refer to the work:  you must avoid those activities that makes you stay near to someone with whom you can start to feel something. Jesus speaks about taking off the eye and cutting off the hand: you must be decisive, rather, super decisive, if you do not want to fall over the cliff. The sufferings will be hard and long, because the sins are never harmless and consequences could be unlimited. God wants you to avoid them: he gave us the commandments for our own good, only for our own good. We thank him in the best way which means taking them seriously and with love.