{"id":2193,"date":"2017-02-12T08:41:22","date_gmt":"2017-02-12T06:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/?p=2193"},"modified":"2020-02-15T22:28:06","modified_gmt":"2020-02-16T03:28:06","slug":"6th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-cycle-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/2017\/02\/12\/6th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-cycle-a\/","title":{"rendered":"6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A"},"content":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s First Reading Sirach reminds us that our life, from here to eternity, is built on our choices. The Lord created us as free beings, but with freedom comes responsibility. We always have to \u201cown\u201d what we have done and what we have failed to do, which is why we make a Penitential Act at the start of every celebration of the Eucharist. Sirach doesn\u2019t just remind us today that we\u2019re free to choose; he encourages us to make the right choices. God\u2019s commandments reflect God\u2019s wisdom, and that not only makes them good choices, but the best choices, even if sometimes in the uncertainty of faith we have to trust in God in making his choices our choices.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Second Reading Paul reminds us that our choices shouldn\u2019t be done just out of obligation, but out of love. They have to be choices made from the heart or they\u2019ll never achieve their full potential.The world has a wisdom to it, but its surface has to be scratched to realize how superficial that wisdom can be. Sometimes scratching below the surface reveals \u201cwisdom\u201d to be folly. The best attitude of a wise man is to acknowledge how much he doesn\u2019t know. That\u2019s what makes him always continue to seek wisdom. Wisdom is not just an accumulation of information; it is an insight into the big picture. God not only has the big picture, he \u201cpainted\u201d it, and he unveils it little by little if we pay attention and seek to learn. However, Paul gives us a shortcut to getting the big picture: love. We\u2019ve been created by God out of love and all he wants in return is our love. He wants it, but love is incredible in that you can\u2019t make someone love you: it\u2019s the greatest and freest choice you can make. A hint of coercion and it\u2019s not love. Nobody who has chosen not to love is every truly happy.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Gospel Our Lord teaches us that all the commandments have a purpose and reflect a wisdom that can shape our lives for the better if we choose to observe them from the heart. In his discourse he is also calling out those who observe the commandments superficially and without heart. God doesn\u2019t do anything pointless; everything is part of his loving plan for us. He hasn\u2019t come to simply discard the old covenant, the \u201claw and the prophets,\u201d as never having had any purpose at all. Rather, he puts the old covenant\u2019s purpose into context. In his own words he did not come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them.<\/p>\n

A common recurring defense today for a watered down life ethic is, \u201chey, at least I\u2019m not killing anybody.\u201d Our Lord reminds us that not killing anybody is good, but we have to go way beyond that if we don\u2019t want to be Pharisaical. When we can say, \u201chey, at least I don\u2019t hate anybody,\u201d we\u2019re getting closer to the mark. In a violent world maybe sometimes we look the other way in the face of a lack of kindness, but Our Lord today reminds us to go the distance and not only not kill anybody, but to actually be kind to everybody. When tempers flare and rash words are said the best thing to do, as Our Lord teaches, is to try to make amends as soon as possible and simply apologize. If we live a life of cruel and cold justice, focusing especially on the justice due to us, we\u2019ll be in for a surprise when the eternal Judge brings us to \u201ccourt\u201d by the same harsh standards to which we held others. As Our Lord\u2019s prayer reminds us, \u201cforgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our Lord teaches us that chastity starts in the heart. The eyes are the windows to our soul, and if we start ogling and fantasizing a radical response is needed if we are to preserve our chastity and keep our hearts pure, since no one can intervene regarding the hidden desires of the heart except ourselves.<\/p>\n

Our Lord reminds us that making a promise or giving testimony is a powerful thing. The promises we make give witness to who we are, and the witness we give is a testimony to how seriously we take our promises. We\u2019ve all experienced how unedifying it is when someone swears something to be true, promises to deliver on something, and then is revealed to have lied or fails to deliver, and not just because of circumstances beyond their control.<\/p>\n

When something is as simple as \u201cYes\u201d or \u201cNo,\u201d as Our Lord teaches us today, there\u2019s no room for spin, for sophistry, for fine print, or for establishing little grey areas in our conscience instead of admitting we can or can\u2019t deliver on something or whether we know or don\u2019t know something. Our Lord gives a laundry list of things the people of his day were using as collateral to show how serious they were about the oaths they made. He also puts his finger on the problem: that collateral is not theirs, nor is it under their control. It\u2019s not as common today, but when someone swears \u201con my life,\u201d or any other number of things or people, we are put on a guard, exactly because they are swearing on something over which they have no control or ownership and usually as a way of convincing others of their sincerity.<\/p>\n

A good choice is a wise choice. Let the wisdom of Our Lord shape all your decisions and your life will be a blessing.<\/p>\n

Readings:\u00a0Sirach 15:15\u201320; Psalm 119:1\u20132, 4\u20135, 17\u201318, 33\u201334; 1 Corinthians 2:6\u201310; Matthew 5:17\u201337.<\/em> See also\u00a010th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday<\/a>,\u00a010th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday<\/a>,\u00a010th Week of Ordinary Time, Thursday, Year II<\/a>,\u00a010th Week of Ordinary Time, Friday, Year II<\/a>, and\u00a010th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s First Reading Sirach reminds us that our life, from here to eternity, is built on our choices. The Lord created us as free beings, but with freedom comes responsibility. We always have to \u201cown\u201d what we have done and what we have failed to do, which is why we make a Penitential Act … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[179,45,39,15],"class_list":["post-2193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cycle-a","tag-ordinary-time","tag-sixth-week","tag-sunday"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p65qtw-zn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2193"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2196,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2193\/revisions\/2196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}