Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Weekly Intention: For a deeper concern for the plight of homeless and displaced persons throughout the world, that all might work to eradicate these persons’ suffering and its causes.
Today’s Gospel | Matthew 5:38-42
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.”
From the Seventh Meditation for the Time of Retreat | St. John Baptist de La Salle
There is no need to be astonished if the holy Apostles and the first bishops of the early Church had such esteem for the function of instructing the catechumens and the new Christians and if Saint Paul especially gloried in being sent to preach the Gospel, not with learned words, for fear that the cross of Jesus Christ would be destroyed, for God turned the wisdom of the world into folly. Saint Paul, enlightened by God’s wisdom and inspiration, says that the world did not recognize God through its wisdom, so it pleased God, through the folly of the preaching of the Gospel, to save those who accept the faith.
The reason that Saint Paul gives for this is that God’s secret plan was unveiled to him. He had received the grace of unveiling to the nations the incomprehensible riches of Jesus Christ, so that those who previously were deprived of Jesus Christ and were strangers to the covenant of God, without hope in his promises, now belong to Jesus Christ and are strangers no longer. They have become fellow citizens with the saints and servants of God’s household. They are the structure that has been built on the foundation of the Apostles and raised up by Jesus Christ. They have become the sanctuary where God dwells through his Holy Spirit.
Prayer
Eternal Father, your Son teaches us what it means to be patient and humble in our relationships with one another. Grant us the strength to be forgiving, to do our best to end the cycle of anger and hurt that fill our world and replace it with compassion, cooperation, and understanding. Help us to build your Kingdom, where all of us live as one in you. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
St. John Baptist de La Salle, pray for us.
Live Jesus in our hearts forever.