Commentary: Wayback Machine.
'Tis also the festival of Blessed Albertina Berkenbrock, Virgin & Martyr (1919-1931), martyred by her attempted rapist, Maneco Palhoça: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.
Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Weekday
The Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter three, verse fifteen thru chapter four, verses one & three thru six;
Psalm Eighty-five, verses nine(a,b) & ten, eleven thru fourteen;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter five, verses twenty thru twenty-six.
Commentary: Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, our Gospel for today is taken from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has established himself symbolically as the new Moses, giving a law upon a mountain. His “you have heard it said, but I say…” has revealed that he has authority even over the Torah. The law is not being abrogated; it is being intensified.
The law was always meant to bring humanity into line with divinity. In the beginning, this alignment was at a fairly basic level. But now that the definitive Moses has appeared, the alignment is becoming absolute, radical, complete.
And so, “You have heard it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” Killing is an action, but that action is rooted in a more fundamental dysfunction: a hateful attitude, a disordered soul, a basic misperception of reality. To be like God utterly, we have to eliminate, obviously, cruel and hateful actions, but we have to go deeper, eliminating cruel and hateful thoughts and attitudes, for God is love, right through.
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