16 February 2008

Saturday of the First Week of Lent

Reading 1
Dt 26:16-19

Moses spoke to the people, saying: “This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments,
he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made,
and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised.”

Responsorial Psalm
119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8

R. (1b) Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
I will give you thanks with an upright heart,
when I have learned your just ordinances.
I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!

Gospel
Mt 5:43-48

Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

THE DISTINCTIVELY DIFFERENT PEOPLE

"Today the Lord is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly His own, as He promised you." –Deuteronomy 26:18

God is holy, set apart, unique. We, His people, also are holy. We are "a people peculiarly His own," that is, owned by Him in a unique way (Dt 26:18). The Lord owns everything because He created everything (Ps 24:1). However, He owns us in a special way because He has chosen, redeemed, and adopted us as His sons and daughters. We are "a people sacred to the Lord" (Dt 26:19).

Because we are holy, we act differently than others. For example, we love our enemies rather than hate them (Mt 5:43-44). We pray for our persecutors (Mt 5:44) rather than curse them or gossip about them. By God's grace, we forgive those who have hurt us. In this way, we show that we are God's holy people, for "to err is human, to forgive is divine." Only God and those graced by Him can forgive. Like God alone, we love unconditionally, sacrificially, with a crucified love. This proves that we are sons and daughters of our heavenly Father (Mt 5:45).

"In a word, you must be made perfect" (Mt 5:48). The Lord commands: "Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Pt 1:16).