7^TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

18^TH /19^TH FEBRUARY 2023

Dear Parishioners,

This Sunday’s readings are very challenging. What Jesus calls us to live in the Gospel is very different from the way society, or our own instincts, or as it says in the Gospel ‘the world’, tries to lead us. But sometimes it is not so easy to readily understand what the God is saying to us. What does it mean when it says ‘be perfect as God is perfect’? The world often demands that we be perfect and many times we try to respond to that demand. We understand perfection getting everything right, to the highest standards, with no mistakes…. Is this God’s version of perfect? When Jesus says turn the other cheek, give your tunic and your cloak, go two miles when you are asked to go one, do not turn away before someone ask you something, and love your enemies; this is a very different sort of perfect… and a very challenging one at that!

Jesus is giving us a new perspective, one that is not easy to understand or to live. It is a different type of perfection, a perfection in love. His criteria challenge our way of living, and offer us new values. He speaks about being generous with our time, our things, our love, to go another mile in our love for others.

It is a generosity that is based on trusting in God’s love, we can be generous when we know that God sustains us, and we do not have to trust only on our possessions, our two tunics. Do we have situations where God is asking us to trust, to be generous, to go another mile?

The wisdom of God is different to our wisdom. When there are things we do not understand and when we go to Him looking for light, He widens our horizons. The peace He gives us a peace is very different from the world’s peace. He gives the comfort that the world cannot give. Often, we are looking for quick answers to solve our problems but generally His wisdom goes beyond our specific problems. Instead, it is an answer for many situations, an answer who helps us to grow in our generosity, understanding, and even in our love for our enemies.

What a beautiful phrase and prayer from the Psalm, “It is He who crowns you with love and compassion”. He crowns us with his love and his compassion. When we feel that we do not have enough love or patience or strength, He crowns us with his love and his compassion. He gives us that love and compassion that we lack so we can keep going.

In the 2^nd reading St Paul says to the Corinthians:  you belong to Christ. We can belong to our culture, our neighbourhood, our school, our job, but if we belong to Christ our life is lacking strong roots. It is the certainty that our life does not belong to the things that today are here and gone tomorrow. We have the capacity to adapt ourselves to new situations, new places, new people. In this experience there is something that does not change and it is Him. We have the certainty that He is on the journey with us.

Take care and have a good week,

Anabel Gonzalez, FMVD