7th Sunday - C (February 20, 2022)

 

Children of the Most High

Luke 6: 27-38

 

Two observations on this Sunday’s Gospel:

1.     Sometimes, or even often, we might view God’s law as a burden, or something that God imposes on us.  That attitude is both wrong and not helpful.  We need to appreciate that God’s law is a gift from God to help us become more like God, to live as “children of the Most High.”  God’s law is thus not a burden.  It is a privilege. 

2.    Have we found it hard to love people who we do not like, or worse, those who have done us wrong?  Jesus is quite practical in his commandment of love.  He tells us to “do good, bless, and pray for them.”  We might not be ready to do good for them.  We can start by asking God for help as we pray for them.  

 

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7th Sunday - A (February 23, 2020)

Your Heavenly Father is Perfect

Matthew 5: 38-48

Jesus continues to show us how we can be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

Last week, we could summarize the practices he taught as, “It is not enough to avoid evil, we must do good.”

Similarly, today’s Gospel can be summarized as, “Not only should we not take revenge, we must love those who wrong us.”

That is the way of God, which Jesus is inviting us to follow.  That is the way to become more like the heavenly Father who is perfect. 

Lent begins this Wednesday, this invitation from Jesus should be the motivation and purpose of our Lenten practices.  

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7th Sunday of Easter - C (June 2, 2019)

The Gift

John 17: 20-26

Today’s Gospel is the end of John, Chapter 17.   Just the next verse of 18:1 has Jesus going to the garden where he will be betrayed and arrested.

So, these are the very last words of Jesus before his arrest.

And he prays to the Father, speaking of his disciples present and all “those who will believe in me through their words.”   

“Father, they are your gift to me.”

We are the gift from the Father to Jesus.

And Jesus is the gift from the Father to us.

I am the Father’s gift to Jesus.  Jesus is the Father’s gift to me.

Spend some time with that today and during this week.  

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7th Sunday - C (February 24, 2019)

Way of Life of the Children of the Most High

Luke 6: 27-38

Luke continues his account of Jesus’ teaching of the new world order – the order of God’s world.

The one reason of this new world order is that we are “children of the Most High,” who “himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.”

Moreover, Jesus is clear on who should follow his teaching: “you who hear.”

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7th Sunday of Easter - A (May 28, 2017)

Commentary

John 17: 1-11a

To Know God

(Today, most dioceses celebrate the Ascension of the Lord.  In a few places, however, today is the 7^th Sunday of Easter.

I have chosen the Gospel for the 6^th Sunday of Easter for this reflection.) 

In the Gospel passage, Jesus continues his Last Supper with the disciples.  Now he prays to the Father for his disciples, “This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.”

“The word for "know" is ginosko, which means intimate, even mystical, knowledge.” [1]   Think of how intimately Jesus knows the Father. 

To know God and to make God know – that is one way of expressing the purpose of the Christian life. 

As we ponder Jesus’ prayer for us, it’s time for us to evaluate our prayer life, which is a way we can deepen our knowledge of God.

While we can never know God fully, without some knowledge of God, we cannot carry out Jesus’ commission, “Go and make disciples of all nations.”

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[1]   John Petty. www.progressiveinvolvement.org 

7th Sunday - A (February 19, 2017)

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Commentary

Matthew 5: 38-48

I Say to You …

The idea behind the rule “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” is to ensure that revenge does not get out of hand (a kind of punishment that fits the crime).  It is for the preservation of a community and a tribe.

The law of Jesus goes beyond the benefits of one community or tribe, or even one people or one nation.  Jesus gives and is the new law of love for all humanity.  In Christ, all are brothers and sisters, children of the same Heavenly Father. 

Yet, in our world today, we, Christians included, might not even put a community first.  We often operate by the principle, “What’s in it for me.” 

As Jesus continues to teach the new law, today’s Gospel certainly offers us a chance for some examination of conscience. 

How am I living for all others the way Jesus Christ does?

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7th Sunday of Easter - C

Commentary

John 16: 20-26

God's Glory and Love

In this one short passage of the Gospel, we hear of God's love and glory.

In fact, these two qualities in certain sense is the same with God.

In the Gospel According to John, immediate after speaking these words, Jesus goes to the garden where he will be arrested. Then come the trial, passion, and crucifixion.  

It is on the cross that Jesus reveals the depth of God's love.  "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends."  

And that love is God's glory.  

7th Sunday of Easter - C (May 8, 2016)

Readings


For Ascension:
Readings

7th Sunday of Easter - B

Commentary

John 17: 11b – 19

Jesus' Two Prayers

Jesus addresses God as “Holy Father” [1] as he prays for his followers.

And Jesus asks the Holy Father two things:

“You keep them from the evil one.”

“Consecrate them in the truth” The verb “consecrate” can also be translated as “make [them] holy.”[2]

The first prayer demands trust on our part – that God keeps us from evil. In fact, we pray this every time we make the Lord's prayer our own, “deliver us from evil.”

Two attitudes are required on our part with the second prayer: humility and openness. Humility to acknowledge that holiness and truth come from God and God alone. [3]  Openness to allow God's holiness and truth to consecrate us.

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[1], [2], & [3] Frank Moloney, This is the Gospel of the Lord: Reflections of the Gospel Readings, Year B. Homebush, NSW, Australia: St. Paul Publications, 1993; p. 126 – 127. 

7th Sunday of Easter - B (May 17, 2015)

Readings

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7th Sunday - A

Commentary

Matthew 5: 38 – 48

Another Purpose of the New Law

Three aspects of last week’s the Gospel passage from Matthew 5: 17 – 37 can help our reflection on today’s Gospel.

1. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophet. 

2. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus establishes a new heaven and a new earth.

3. In the new heaven and earth, we follow not rules and regulations, but Jesus Christ.  (God’s law thus becomes the application of our following of Jesus Christ).

Today’s passage gives another insight into the meaning and value of the way of Jesus – the new law of God’s Kingdom.  

When we live God’s law, we, children of God, reflect the goodness of our Heavenly Father.

 

And there are no limits to this law of love.  “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

7th Sunday - A (February 23, 2014)

Readings

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7th Sunday of Easter - C

Commentary

John 17: 20-26

What Else Do We Need?

Here, we read the very end of Chapter 17 in the Gospel of John.  In a few verses, at the beginning of Chapter 18, Jesus is arrested.

In that context, these are the farewell words of Jesus to his friends and disciples.

As he is about to offer himself as the sacrifice of love, Jesus tells us:

1    1. He prays for us (“I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.”)

2    2. He has given us the glory that the Father gave him.

        3.  We are one with God (“I in them and you in me.”)

      4.  God loves us with the same love God loves God’s only Son (“You loved them even as you loved me.”

        5.  We have that love because Jesus has revealed God to us (“I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”)

      6. We are God’s gift to Jesus.

So, what else do we need?

7th Sunday of Easter - C (May 12, 2013)

Readings
(Note:  I most dioceses in the US, the Ascension of the Lord is celebrated this Sunday)

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