Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

Then Jesus said to them, “Moses wrote this law for you, because you have hearts of stone. But in the beginning of creation God made them male and female; and because of this, man has to leave father and mother and be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one body. So, they are no longer two, but one body. Therefore, let no one separate what God has joined.”
When they were indoors at home, the disciples again asked him about this, and he told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against his wife; and the woman who divorces her husband and marries another, also commits adultery.”When they were indoors at home, the disciples again asked him about this, and he told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against his wife; and the woman who divorces her husband and marries another, also commits adultery.”

Reflection:
“Let no one separate what God has joined.”
Among the Pharisees, Jesus obviously has a reputation for being cavalier about the law— a matter for them of supreme importance. As usual they put a question to him, not to receive wisdom, but to find some reason to justify their own opposition. And as usual, they fall into their own trap. Rather than dismissing the law, Jesus appeals to an ideal far more demanding than the Mosaic law. Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.Among the Pharisees, Jesus obviously has a reputation for being cavalier about the law— a matter for them of supreme importance. As usual they put a question to him, not to receive wisdom, but to find some reason to justify their own opposition. And as usual, they fall into their own trap. Rather than dismissing the law, Jesus appeals to an ideal far more demanding than the Mosaic law. Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.Lest we suppose that Jesus hereby intended to establish a new and even more stringent law, we should recall his teaching that “everyone who looks lustfully at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. Anyone who calls another a fool is liable to hellfire. (Mt 5:22) If that is so, as the disciples say in another con- text,“Who then can be saved?”
For Jesus the law is not a standard by which to measure our personal righteousness. It is a con- cession to our “hardness of heart.” Our standard  should  always  be the law of love, and the aspiration to be “perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48)For Jesus the law is not a standard by which to measure our personal righteousness. It is a con- cession to our “hardness of heart.” Our standard  should  always  be the law of love, and the aspiration to be “perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48)

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

If your hand makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a hand, than with two hands to go to hell, to the fire that never goes out. And if your foot makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a foot, than with both feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye makes you fall into sin, tear it out! It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, keeping both eyes, to be thrown into hell, where the worms that eat them never die, and the fire never goes out. The fire itself will preserve them.
Salt is a good thing; but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.”

Reflection:
“If your hand makes you fall into sin, cut it off!”
In today’s Gospel Jesus delivers a hellfire sermon on the judgment that awaits those who corrupt the innocent, along with a fearsome call to renounce any part of us that leads us to sin. (Alarmed by those who might take this literally, the early church issued a prohibition against self-mutilation as a way of maintaining purity.) Of course it is not our hand or foot or any other part of our bodies that causes us to sin. The root of sin lies in our hearts—in hatred, greed, anger, fear, lust, envy.
The occasion may seem like a petty thing: my dislike for strangers, a “harmless” little lie, my willingness to keep silent about prejudice or corruption. These “little”sins have the power to draw us completely into corruption. We must be on guard against them as much as any “great” sin. We must be wary lest our “salt”—the essential integrity of our souls— should lose its flavor. When we find ourselves falling into moral compromise, we must scrutinize the source of our weakness and ruthlessly cast it out.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Daily Reflection 2019

Bible Diary ® is a product of Claretian Publications, a division of Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. (CCFI) which is a pastoral endeavor of the Claretian Missionaries in the Philippines that brings the Word of God to people from all walks of life. CCFI aims to promote integral evangelization and renewed spirituality that is geared towards empowerment and total liberation in response to the needs and challenges of the Church today.

CCFI is a member of Claret Publishing Group, a consortium of the publishing houses of the Claretian Missionaries all over the world: Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Chennai, Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Madrid, Macao, Manila, Owerry, São Paolo, Varsaw , Yaoundé.

Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL

With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

 

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Reflection:
“For whoever is not against us is for us.”
Do we believe that Christians are the only ones who do good in the  world? There are  countless people of good will who serve their neighbors, the cause of peace, justice, and the good of the earth, who never invoke or even acknowledge the name of Christ. The French novelist François Mauriac spoke of such persons: “What glorious hope! There are all those who will discover that their neighbor is Jesus himself, although they  belong to the mass of those who do not know Christ or have forgotten Him. It is impossible for any one of those who has real charity in his heart not to serve Christ. Even those who think they hate Him have consecrated their lives to Him; for Jesus is disguised and masked in the midst of men, hidden among the poor, among the sick, among prisoners, among strangers. Many who serve Him officially have never known who He was, and many who do not even know His name, will hear on the last day the words that open to them the gates of joy. ‘Those children were I, and I those working men. I wept on the hospital bed. I was that murderer in his cell whom you consoled.’”

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Daily Reflection 2019

Bible Diary ® is a product of Claretian Publications, a division of Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. (CCFI) which is a pastoral endeavor of the Claretian Missionaries in the Philippines that brings the Word of God to people from all walks of life. CCFI aims to promote integral evangelization and renewed spirituality that is geared towards empowerment and total liberation in response to the needs and challenges of the Church today.

CCFI is a member of Claret Publishing Group, a consortium of the publishing houses of the Claretian Missionaries all over the world: Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Chennai, Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Madrid, Macao, Manila, Owerry, São Paolo, Varsaw , Yaoundé.

Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL

With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

 

Bible Diary ® 2019
Copyright © 2O17 
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
U.P. P.O. Box 4, Diliman,
1101 Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.: (63-2) 921-3984
Fax: (6352) 921-7429
Email: ccfi@claretianpublicationscom
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.claretianph.com