A New Commandment

Gospel: Matthew 5: 1-12

For far too long we have attempted to live a Christian life based solely on the commandments to the neglect of the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount.  This omission is not accidental, but rather intentional.  For the Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount challenge us to a way of life that seeks perfection and a greater holiness, while a mere adherence to the commandments enables us to define downwards the moral law to a minimalism that runs contrary to the Gospel.

Consider  how we celebrate the fact that we have not killed another person ever in our life, adhering to the letter of the fifth commandment.  But the Beatitudes go deeper: do we have murderous and hateful thoughts about our neighbor? Are we meek and merciful? No.  We canonize ourselves for not committing adultery with another person.  But our lustful thoughts about other people suggest we are not pure of heart and far from holiness and perfection.  

We love the legalism of the commandments and the many loopholes and exceptions we can create in order to exonerate ourselves for our killing, adulterating, lying, and the like.  We hear little of the Beatitudes because they convict us of our casuistry and minimalism and much more besides.  Today and the coming days to follow, let us challenge ourselves to live the Beatitudes, to apply them to our life as Jesus does throughout the Sermon on the Mount, and imitate the Lord Jesus in living the Beatitudes in our life. 

For the Life of the World

Gospel: John 6: 51-58

The Bread of Life discourse in John's Gospel is presented within the context of Jesus feeding a large crowd with bread and fish, a discourse wherein Jesus refers to how God fed Israel in the desert with bread and quail.  Jesus now offers himself for the life of the entire world as spiritual food that is to accompany the material food we are to provide for people as well.  The mission of the disciple is to distribute both bread and fish for people's material needs, and the bread of heaven for people's spiritual needs.

The distribution of the Lord's body proceeds along the same lines as the distribution of the loaves and fish.  Jesus commanded the disciples to feed the people.  He did not command them to undertake a series of interrogations as to whether someone was worthy or not.  He did not ask us to look for reasons to exclude others from the table of the Lord.  He told us to feed others.  The table of Jesus was open to all right to the very end, and the offering of himself was for the whole world, not a select few.  

As we celebrate this feast of Corpus Christi, we are invited to reflect and discern ways that we can feed people with the material food they need, and how we might feed people with the Eucharist in their spiritual need as well.  Today is a day for us to discern how we ourselves might be the body and blood of Christ poured out for others in our work of mercy and care for others in the world.  Today is a day for us to become what we eat, to do what we say we believe.   

The Model of Discipleship

Gospel: Mark 12: 38-44

The Roman collar worn by most priests in the west has its origin in the ancient Roman Empire.  It was the neck band worn by slaves.  The Roman clergy adopted it to identify with and be in solidarity with the slave class of their day.  Similarly, the robes of the monk and friar were originally the simple garb of a beggar, adopted by the monk and friar as they were literal beggars, living the life of poverty to be in solidarity with the poor of their day.

Needless to say, not a single cleric of our day wears these items for these intended purposes.  Nowadays, these religious garbs are worn to exhibit the status and power of the clerics, who gather among themselves to shop around at the finest houses of religious garb for these wares.  Yet, if one were to ask a cleric of our days, somehow the words of Jesus regarding religious attire seems to apply only to the religious leaders of his day and not to Christian clergy of this or any other time.  

Jesus points us to the widow as the person to imitate in our life: to have little, to possess no status in society, and to give generously what little we have to care for others.  We are not be like the rich and powerful, nor are we to be like the professional religious class and their fineries.  Our model in discipleship is a poor, powerless woman, not rich and haughty men.  For it is the poor who will possess the kingdom of God, and the meek will inherit the earth.