{"id":5674,"date":"2023-02-16T21:37:53","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T20:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5674"},"modified":"2023-02-16T21:37:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T20:37:54","slug":"seventh-sunday-a-in-ordinary-time-matthew-538-48","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5674","title":{"rendered":"Seventh Sunday A in ordinary Time, Matthew 5,38-48"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

I read such a sentence not long ago. The Pharisee says: “If there are two righteous people in the world, it is me and my son.”\u00a0If there’s only one in the world, it’s me.”<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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I remembered her while reading today’s Gospel about reflecting on the surrounding life. We can sigh: “Lord, when will we who are believers finally find the time to read the Holy Scriptures, or at least the Gospels?” If we read the Gospels at least, there would certainly be fewer shocking cases, anger, quarrels, accusations, and unre, st in families and workplaces. But we are like the aforementioned Pharisees, believers only when something suits us, but nothing more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s think about the words of Jesus himself when he tells his disciples: <\/span>“But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.\u00a0After all, he makes the sun rise on the bad and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5,44-45).<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Have we understood, or are we still grumbling, contradicting, and unwilling to depart from our truth? In the East, the principle of equal revenge still applies, especially in the case of death – murder, namely to fulfill the obligation of blood revenge.\u00a0It is an unwritten law whose duty it is to fulfill, and they even say it is imposed by God.\u00a0Where?\u00a0Why?<\/span>
\nJesus reprimanded the Pharisees that it is not written in the Old Testament that one should hate one’s enemy … but that is probably how the scribes taught it anyway.\u00a0Love for the enemy is a purely Christian doctrine.<\/span>
\nIn the Third Book of Moses (Lev 19:18) we read:\u00a0<\/span>“Do not take revenge and do not harbor anger against the members of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself!”\u00a0I am the Lord!\u201d<\/span><\/em>
\nBut what did the people do?\u00a0They explained it to each other in such a way that only the people of Sukemia should be loved, not others.\u00a0The Jews hated publicans, today’s customs officers, and looked upon them as the greatest sinners, especially because they served the hated Romans, and they often committed wrongdoing in trade.\u00a0However, they were not all the same.\u00a0After all, customs officials also came to John to be baptized and asked what they should do.\u00a0He answered them:\u00a0<\/span>“Do not demand more than what they have assigned to you!” (Luke 3:13)<\/span><\/em>\u00a0.\u00a0And Zacchaeus, when he recognizes the beauty of Christ’s teaching, says:\u00a0<\/span>“Lord, I will give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have deceived anyone, I will return fourfold” (Luke 19:8).<\/span>
\n<\/em>
\nAnd those were the hated toll collectors.\u00a0It is appalling that we, who have already recognized the beauty of Jesus’ words, with which the Gospel has been proclaimed for two thousand years, who have already heard hundreds of sermons and been encouraged, even after being forgiven by God himself in the sacrament of reconciliation, are worse than the Old Testament Jews.\u00a0We often only love those who love us.\u00a0But Jesus asks:\u00a0<\/span>“What reward can you expect?” (Mt 5:46).<\/span><\/em>
\nWe greet only our brothers, and friends, from whom we expect to return our attention. Shouldn’t we think again about the words of Jesus:\u00a0<\/span>“What strange thing are you doing?\u00a0Don’t the Gentiles also do this?” (Mt 5:47)<\/span><\/em>\u00a0And the last sentence from today’s Gospel is like a cry, the call of the heart of Christ:\u00a0<\/span>“Be ye therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).<\/span><\/em>
\nDo we want to leave today as cold and indifferent as if nothing happened, as if we heard nothing?\u00a0After all, only a dead person is so cold, and we are alive!\u00a0After all, when we took the trouble to come here to the church on this day, something certainly warmed us, we certainly came here to change something in our lives.\u00a0Or do we just want to wait until infinity, until the last breath or the last beat of our heart, for the other person to bow down and not me?!\u00a0And at the same time, we will be at each other’s throats – I am right, I am right, I am satisfied, nothing?!<\/span>
\nDon’t you think that it is we, who are present here, and not those at home, outside, who should fulfill these words of Christ?!\u00a0We have a lot to fix, we have a lot to be grateful to Jesus for!<\/span><\/p>\n

We can learn the opposite of St. Rose of Viterbo. Her life story will certainly touch us.\u00a0This amazing girl, loved by believers, deserves our admiration, even if she was not a person of international importance.\u00a0We can rightfully call her a saint because God has given her extraordinary grace.<\/span>
\nShe was born in 1235 in Viterbo, in the central Italian province of Lazio.\u00a0As a three-year-old, she resurrected her maternal aunt and thereby performed the first miracle.\u00a0The first time she found herself in a state of rapture, in ecstasy, she was only eight years old!\u00a0Then the Virgin Mary told her as a 10-year-old to wear the clothes of a Franciscan Tertiary.\u00a0In that year, Ru\u017eena began her first mission against Emperor Bedrich II, an enemy of the Pope, who had illegally occupied Viterbo.\u00a0She preached on the streets and in the squares and performed incredible miracles.\u00a0No one dared to touch this girl, who always had to stand on a rock so that the audience could see her.\u00a0And stones grew under her feet to make her stand out even more.\u00a0As a 15-year-old, she was expelled from the city, as she was considered a dangerous element that threatens public order.\u00a0She took refuge in Soriano and continued her fight against the Emperor there.\u00a0One morning after prayer in the church, she announced that Bedrich II.\u00a0he is dead, and after a few days, the messengers confirmed this news. From Soriano to Victoriano, where a certain man who declared himself a magician and miracle worker kept all the people under his influence, Ru\u017eena set a wood pyre on fire in the square, then climbed onto it and remained in flames for three hours. When she went down again, and the fire did not burn a single hair, the miracle worker fell at her feet.\u00a0Ru\u017eena set a wooden pyre on fire in the square, then climbed onto it and stayed in the flames for three hours.\u00a0When she went down again, and the fire did not burn a single hair, the miracle worker fell at her feet.\u00a0Ru\u017eena set a wooden pyre on fire in the square, then climbed onto it and stayed in the flames for three hours.\u00a0When she went down again, and the fire did not burn a single hair, the miracle worker fell at her feet.<\/span>
\nWhen she was 16, she returned home to Viterbo.\u00a0She wanted to enter a monastery to spend her whole life there in prayer.\u00a0However, the religious sisters in the monastery called Santa Maria de la Rose did not accept her, because this teenage girl frightened them with her sanctity and caused them embarrassment.<\/span>
\nRu\u017eena remained patient even after their rejection and added with a smile: “You don’t want to accept me alive, maybe you’d rather accept me dead when I die.” She then continued her work for two more years as a simple Franciscan Tertiary, while she exhausted all her youths with her acts of passionate Christian love forces.<\/span>
\nShe died aged 18 in 1253 and her prediction came true.\u00a0Pope Alexander IV.\u00a0this young girl appeared three times, so that finally in 1258 he had her body transferred to the temple of the above-mentioned monastery.\u00a0The ceremonial transfer of her remains took place on September 4.\u00a0This day was dedicated to the memory of Saint Rose in Viterbo for a long time.\u00a0Her body rests in the mentioned monastery and is still, after seven centuries, intact.\u00a0It became the center of love and respect for its fellow citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus says:\u00a0<\/span>“Pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your heavenly Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:45).<\/span><\/em>
\nIf we want to be truly religious people, Jesus has only one request for us.\u00a0Let’s leave this place happy today because we got rid of the burden that pressed us like a heavy boulder and when we had a clear conscience in this area, let’s pray for the brothers and sisters who are like the aforementioned Pharisee at the beginning of the sermon.<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I read such a sentence not long ago. The Pharisee says: “If there are two righteous people in the world, it is me and my son.”\u00a0If there’s only one in the world, it’s me.” I remembered her while reading today’s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nezaradene"],"yoast_head":"\nSeventh Sunday A in ordinary Time, Matthew 5,38-48 - predication.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5674\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seventh Sunday A in ordinary Time, Matthew 5,38-48 - predication.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I read such a sentence not long ago. 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