OMELIE / Omelie EN

16 feb 2020

16/02/2020 – 6th Sunday in O. T. - Year A 

16/02/2020 – 6^th Sunday in O. T. - Year A 

Reading 1 SIR 15,15-20 * Psalm 118 * Reading 2 1COR 2,6-10 * Gospel MT 5,17-37

Secrets and mysteries! God’s mystery was a secret and now it has been revealed. This is what Saint Paul is telling us. Nobody, neither the powerful men nor the wise ones in this world have been capable of or have known how to unveil God's secrets. Only those who love Him can know something, and can really love Him they who welcome the One who has been crucified. Among these are we too: we can boast about it, but with a lot of humility, because if we are not humble God does not show Himself to us: in fact, He is the one who reveals Himself, we are not the ones to discover the secrets of His heart. In fact, He opens it only to the small and the humble.

Today Jesus is revealing His way to read God's commandments. He is reading them as a son, not like a servant. The servants obey God without loving Him, very careful to follow the orders perfectly, and on top of this with fear: they are expecting a prize and they fear a punishment. Jesus is telling us instead how a son would obey, a beloved son and a son who loves his father, who wants to cooperate with him. A son knows that God, his Father, loves him, and therefore he receives His commandments as a loving gift both for those obeying and for those who are part of this obedience. Jesus is taking us then in God’s heart and revealing us its depths, He uncovers for us the beauty of His love and how deep it is. In the speech on the mountain, that we keep hearing about, He gives us a few examples of how to read the commandments.

Why did God tell men: : “Thou shalt not murder”? God has given this instruction because He loves all men, creatures of His. His love for them is deep and unchanging. A son does not only make sure to avoid murder, but he will also try to make his the Father’s love for everyone. A son will try to help men grow, to foster in them the coming of age of all the abilities for love. A son knows that killing means to steal life from another son, and knows that there are many ways and many degrees of deprivation in order to take away life from people: already an offensive word or slander can hurt and ruin a man's day or block his growth; and whenever you quarrel with someone because of any advantage of yours, you give him anxiety and you deprive him of his sleep. Whoever loves God like a son, therefore, does not quarrel with or offend anyone. And the commandment: “Thou shalt not commit adultery”, why did the Father give it to us? If you are listening like a son, you are worried about understanding His intentions in terms of marriage. If He has blessed the union of a man with a woman, you will not even think to break it, and therefore to curse it: it would be a severe offense towards God your Father. It does not matter if you “like” that man or woman more than your spouse, not even if him or her agree or even is asking you to. You need to obey God, not men.

If you are going with someone who betrays their spouse, you are helping them to break a bond created by God: you are guilty before Him. Every disobedience to God is not even love towards men, on the contrary. You cannot call love an action of disobedience to the Father.

Jesus gives us another example of filial way to listen, related to swearing. This is a serious thing, because it is about calling God to be the witness of the truthfulness of your saying yes or no to something. The commandment regarding not to swear by something false tells you then not to treat lightly this expression, so never to swear by them in order to give value to your affirmations. If you get used to be truthful, you do not need to swear. You are already child of God, and what you say  must be measured and truthful, otherwise you might give space to lies, that are evil. If you swear by something, you are implying that you usually lie: therefore you should not be trusted even when you swear.

All commandments are for life: “If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live”. It is silly to ask God for well-being and happiness and then avoid listening to Him and obey Him. He has already shown us the path of joy and peace with His commands. It is wise instead to take seriously every word that leaves God's lips and, of course, above all and first of all to love the Word that became flesh! Welcoming Jesus it is a sign of truly listening to God, it is the most effective wisdom, it is the way of true life!