{"id":1017,"date":"2020-02-11T08:43:49","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T08:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=1017"},"modified":"2020-02-11T08:43:49","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T08:43:49","slug":"reflection-16-february-2020-a-sixth-sunday-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=1017","title":{"rendered":"Reflection 16 February 2020 (A) Sixth Sunday of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>Reflection\n&amp; Dialogue:<\/em><\/strong><em> Can the Gospel call to perfection be lived?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Sirach\u2019s day the question was\nimplicitly put: \u201cCan we keep the commandments\u201d, and answered categorically in\nthe positive by that sage. Similar questions have been put with regard to the\nSermon on the Mount, and indeed with regard to many tenets of Catholic moral\nteaching. Indeed many have complained that the teaching of part of today\u2019s\nGospel reading, from the passage \u201cDo not kill\u201d down to \u201cDo not commit adultery.\nBut I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already\ncommitted adultery with her in his heart\u201d is impractical. In this context the\nwords of Dostoevsky\u2019s Grand Inquisitor are recalled, to the effect that \u201cJesus\njudged humanity too highly\u201d, for \u201cit was created weaker and lower than Christ\nthought\u201d. With regard to this we may note that this reading, apart from the ban\non divorce, is not a law code. Rather is it a presentation of the nature of the\nkingdom of God, of Christ\u2019s kingdom, and of the\nperfection to which those within it are called. The passage clearly states that\nwith Jesus a new age has come, and his followers are called to be witnesses to\nthis new age in their way of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This\nview of the passage agrees with the message of today\u2019s second reading. The gift\nof faith gives the believer a new wisdom, an insight into God\u2019s plan, and in this,\nthe wisdom of which Paul speaks differs from human wisdom. Of course, this by\nno means that Paul, and the Church, do not highly regard human wisdom for the\nconduct of human affairs. As Paul write to the Philippians (4:8): \u201cFinally,\nbeloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever\nis pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence\nand if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things\u201d. One clear\nmessage of this second reading is that we should never forget that the Church\nis God\u2019s saving mystery. In dialogue with questions raised in our own day, it\nis good not to forget this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Another\nmatter discussed today is whether we can live in keeping with the Gospel\nmessage, or with the morality as taught by the Church. Christ was once\naddressed a similar question, to which he replied: \u201cFor God all things are\npossible\u201d. This, of course, is no full answer to today\u2019s question. There will\nbe fuller discussion of the matter in the months and years ahead. But in any\ndiscussion of the question in relation to the Gospel and the Church, the nature\nof the church as divine mystery, and the need of grace must be borne in mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reflection &amp; Dialogue: Can the Gospel call to perfection be lived? In Sirach\u2019s day the question was implicitly put: \u201cCan we keep the commandments\u201d, and answered categorically in the positive &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1018,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017\/revisions\/1018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}