Gospel Reflection For The 24th day of January in the year of Our Lord, 2024
Gospel
Matthew 5:43-48
43 You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy. 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: 45 That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.
46 For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? do not even the publicans this? 47 And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? do not also the heathens this? 48 Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.
While yesterday’s Gospel was difficult, today’s is seemingly impossible! How can we, men and women born with the concupiscence of original sin, as well as our individual flaws, be perfect? Doesn’t the Bible say, “all have sinned”? Doesn’t even Saint Paul complain that he sins? Paul states clearly that he does not do the good he wishes to do, but the evil he does not want to do and no matter how hard he tries he keeps right on doing it – don’t we all? I know that I do! Saint Paul further states that he must strive to finish the race and work out his salvation through great effort. If Saint Paul couldn’t attain perfection through all his effort, dedication, love, work and sacrifice, what chance have we?
Yet, our Lord says that we must be as perfect as God! How is this possible? It is not…. Not humanly possible anyway. But “with God, all things are possible.”
This is a stark example of the new covenant given through Christ to Christians, and something that the old covenant of the Mosaic Law could not offer. The Law did not stop people from sinning. Saint Paul makes clear that the Law brought only condemnation and guilt. Jesus knows that human nature is such that we will continue to sin no matter how hard we try. He is not demanding that we never fail. No, He offers a new way of redemption that, if we follow it, will indeed make us perfect. It will make us Saints. The Bible states that nothing impure can enter Heaven. Therefore, if the saints are in Heaven then our Lord must have provided us the means to attain purity, which is perfection.
The means He gives to us is the Sacraments of the Catholic Church. Belief and faith alone cannot make one perfect. Those faithful Jews before the time of Christ believed and were full of faith, but could not enter Heaven until the crucifixion of our Lord. Reading the Bible cannot make one perfect. Satan knows the Bible so fully that he quoted scriptures when he tempted Jesus in the desert. It is only through faith and works, as Jesus said, that this state of perfection can be attained. Along with the charitable attitude that Jesus describes in this passage, the works that will make us pure are Baptism, Confirmation, Reconciliation and the Eucharist.
Baptism cleanses one from original and personal sin, joins us into the Body of Christ, opens us to the Holy Spirit and protects us from demonic forces. Confirmation brings us into the Church and gives us the fullness of the spirit, enlightening the mind and the soul to the truth. Reconciliation brings us back into our baptismal state when we fail. All of these works are necessary so that we may participate in the greatest work in the history of the universe, the Eucharist. Through the Eucharist, we participate in the sacrifice of Jesus and the salvation of mankind. As we consume the Body and Blood of Christ, we are filled with His spirit. God and man become one. We become like Jesus through the Eucharist. The more often we receive the Eucharist in a state of grace, the more holy we will become until at last… yes, we become perfect because God lives in us and through us. This is how we become saints and for this alone we must strive.
A Daily Catholic Devotional Reflections on the Daily Mass readings January-June, 2024. may be purchased as a .pdf directly from me using this link https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/12/a-daily-catholic-devotional-reflections.html or in paperback on Amazon amazon.com/dp/B0CPD1DC7Q
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Gospel passages are taken from the Douay Rheims Bible.