DAILY SCRIPTURES
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SUNDAY SCRIPTURES
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GOSPEL AND REFLECTION
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
First Reading – 1 Samuel 26:2. 7-9. 12-13. 22-23
The Lord has put you in my power, but I will not raise my hand against you.
Saul set off and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, accompanied by three thousand men chosen from Israel to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph.
So in the dark David and Abishai made their way towards the force, where they found Saul asleep inside the camp, his spear stuck in the ground beside his head, with Abner and the troops lying round him.
Then Abishai said to David, ‘Today God has put your enemy in your power; so now let me pin him to the ground with his own spear. Just one stroke! I will not need to strike him twice. David answered Abishai, Do not kill him, for who can lift his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be without guilt?’ David took the spear and the pitcher of water from beside Saul’s head, and they made off. No one saw, no one knew, no one woke up; they were all asleep, for a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen on them.
David crossed to the other side and halted on the top of the mountain a long way off; there was a wide space between them. David then called out, ‘Here is the king’s spear. Let one of the soldiers come across and take it. The Lord repays everyone for his uprightness and loyalty. Today the Lord put you in my power, but I would not raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed.’
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 102:1-4. 8. 10. 12-13. R. v.8
(R.) The Lord is kind and merciful.
Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 15:45-49
Just as we have carried the earthly image, we must carry the heavenly image.
The first man, Adam, as scripture says, became a living soul; but the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit. That is, first the one with the soul, not the spirit, and after that, the one with the spirit. The first man, being from the earth, is earthly by nature; the second man is from heaven. As this earthly man was, so are we on earth; and as the heavenly man is, so are we in heaven. And we, who have been modelled on the earthly man, will be modelled on the heavenly man.
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
I give you a new commandment;
love one another as I have loved you.
Alleluia!
Gospel – Luke 6:27-38
We merciful as your Father is merciful.
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To the man who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek too; to the man who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from the man who robs you. Treat others as you would like them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what thanks can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. Instead, love your enemies and do good, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.’
Gospel Reflection
The Way of Compassion and Love
Reflection on the Gospel-7th Sunday in Ordinary Time C
(Luke 6:27-38)
The classic message of today’s gospel is addressed to “those who are listening”, those who hear, those who are paying attention. To hear, to pay attention and respond to the heart of the message that follows, namely to love your enemies and to be compassionate as God is compassionate, calls for an extraordinary expansiveness of spirit only possible in those who are totally open to the power of God’s Spirit working in their lives. It is not easy to love one’s enemy particularly when the enemy, the one subtly undermining or manipulating you, comes in the guise of friend. Yet, even in the face of subtle enmity, the message is clear: do not respond in kind, respond instead with love, compassion and unreserved forgiveness. It is also important to rise above the pettiness of the other and refuse to be a victim. To the one who takes away your coat, you offer your shirt as well. In this way, the real power remains with the one who is too expansive to retaliate.
Luke’s late first century communities were well acquainted with the Jewish traditions that informed their faith, even if many were not themselves Jewish. The Jewish Christians in the community as well as the “God-fearers” who accepted Jesus of Nazareth as Saviour and Christos or Messiah had been introduced to the God of steadfast love (ḥesed) and womb-compassion (raḥamîm). They believed that God was concerned about justice in the legal system (mishpat) and right relationship (sedeqah) between people and nations, ever ready to forgive those who turn away from injustice and wrongdoing. The songs and prayers of the Jewish heritage reminded them constantly of the compassionate ways of God in their history and in their personal lives. When the Lukan Jesus tells these people to be merciful or compassionate as God is compassionate, they know what he means. They also know the cost of compassion in situations where retaliation is the more spontaneous instinct. God-like compassion remains the stance required of Christian disciples in the face of opposition and hatred, even the opposition that comes in the guise of friendship.
Compassion, forgiveness and love of enemies are rare commodities in international politics and in the resolution of global conflicts as well as in personal relationships. Sadly, the major trouble spots on our globe witness to constant retaliation and face-saving measures that harden positions and exacerbate division. There is ample evidence that hatred, fuelled by injustice, is begetting violence in many parts of our planetary home. And yet the only way to break the cycles of violence that perpetuate death and destruction is the way of compassion and love. God-like compassion requires that we, as nations and as individuals, let go of past hurts, examine our tenaciously held opinions, try to see the world from the perspective of those we mistrust and work for peace that is grounded in love. Countless troubled communities continue to yearn for such God-like compassion.
Sr Veronica Lawson rsm
© The scriptural quotations are taken from the Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday & Co Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. The English translation of the Psalm Responses, the Alleluia and Gospel Verses, and the Lenten Gospel Acclamations, and the Titles, Summaries, and Conclusion of the Readings, from the Lectionary for Mass © 1997, 1981, 1968, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.