Deacon Tom Anthony

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 81

Reading 1 1 Sm 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23

In those days, Saul went down to the desert of Ziph
with three thousand picked men of Israel,
to search for David in the desert of Ziph.
So David and Abishai went among Saul’s soldiers by night
and found Saul lying asleep within the barricade,
with his spear thrust into the ground at his head
and Abner and his men sleeping around him.

Abishai whispered to David:
“God has delivered your enemy into your grasp this day.
Let me nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear;
I will not need a second thrust!”
But David said to Abishai, “Do not harm him,
for who can lay hands on the LORD’s anointed and remain unpunished?”
So David took the spear and the water jug from their place at Saul’s head,
and they got away without anyone’s seeing or knowing or awakening.
All remained asleep,
because the LORD had put them into a deep slumber.

Going across to an opposite slope,
David stood on a remote hilltop
at a great distance from Abner, son of Ner, and the troops.
He said: “Here is the king’s spear.
Let an attendant come over to get it.
The LORD will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness.
Today, though the LORD delivered you into my grasp,
I would not harm the LORD’s anointed.”

Responsorial Psalm Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13

R. (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

Reading 2 1 Cor 15:45-49

Brothers and sisters:
It is written, The first man, Adam, became a living being,
the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
But the spiritual was not first;
rather the natural and then the spiritual.
The first man was from the earth, earthly;
the second man, from heaven.
As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly,
and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly.
Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.

Alleluia Jn 13:34

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment, says the Lord:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Lk 6:27-38

Jesus said to his disciples:
“To you who hear I say,
love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

 We are revolutionaries in that we are not expected to adhere to the teachings of this world and the expectations of society. We are called to something higher that, at many times, goes against all that we have learned and all that we have been encouraged to do since we were able to make independent decisions. From early on, we were taught that there was an expected reaction to our relationships with other people be they enemies or friends. When we were threatened, we were expected to react to that threat by defending ourselves to the best of our abilities, oftentimes eliminating that threat through acts of violence out of self-preservation. When we were asked to give something to someone else, a cost could be demanded in return so as to make the exchange profitable to us. Giving our money or something that had value for us to someone else would only be done when receiving something of equal or more value. Being of good character enabled us to correct the actions of others using ourselves as the standard of conduct to be looked up to. The more we rose in stature enabled us to be viewed by more people in a positive light and thus could allow us to be the standard which others needed to conduct themselves by. Through the teachings of Jesus Christ and the message of the Sacred Scriptures it can be now understood that what has been offered through these messages and code of conduct is completely wrong.

Those who find themselves acting in the aforementioned way are in no way bad people but ones who have been misguided in their concepts of living. No one person is beyond making this mistake when so many others have told him or her that it is the proper way to act. It can be argued that everyone is in danger of doing these things daily if we do not keep our relationship with Jesus Christ central in our lives.  It is through Jesus Christ and a spiritual relationship with Him that a better way is revealed.

A relationship with Jesus Christ starts with love. It is through His love for us that we have been given the gift of salvation. It is here, with this concept of eternal love that our relationship begins. Through the presence of the Holy Spirit, this love flows through us and outward throughout God’s creation. We first receive it then we exude it naturally when we recognize its presence. It is spread through us by us reacting to its presence. We are first loved then we love in return. The only thing that can prevent ourselves from spreading that love is our own unwillingness to let it work through us and our actions. Our greatest asset, our free will, can be our greatest impediment if our will does not coincide with the Will of the Father. When this happens, we tend to revert back to complying with the lower standards of society which include acting with an acceptable level of selfishness instead of selflessness.

David serves as an example to all of us to follow. King Saul had made it his mission to pursue and kill David out of jealousy and hatred. When David has an opportunity to end the threat on his own life by killing Saul, he chose not to but exercised mercy instead. He did not know what the future would bring with this act of love but it bore no consequence to what he did in the moment. In that moment he displayed love and mercy in the same way the Father shows us love and mercy through His gift of salvation. David was not concerned with the preservation of his own life but more he was concerned with the value of the life of another. As Christians, our lives are not our own which means that there is no need for self-preservation. All life comes from God and has been created by God. Created out of love means that all life serves as a vessel of that love which means in turn that all of it is precious and none more important than the other.

Jesus wants us to concentrate on the preservation of all life through acts of love and mercy. All of our actions should reflect the presence of Jesus Christ and our relationship with him. This is indeed difficult, especially with all of the other outside influences that constantly bombard us on a daily basis. A good exercise would be for us to rate these influences by level of importance then compare them to how important God should be in our lives. If we do in fact believe that God is the creator of all things and it is through His Son that we achieve redemption and eternal life, then how important should we rate what God says in comparison to the opinions and thoughts of other people? This is where we can be challenged. How important is our relationship to God in relation to the daily opinions and thoughts of other people? Do these other people actually have our best interests at heart in comparison to the one who created us?

Two parts of us are struggling against each other: The flesh and the spirit. When we encounter something that is physical or mental in nature the flesh reacts and wants to immediately take charge. What comes from the flesh is always finite and is based in Natural Law, its action dictated by the limitations of this world. The spirit cries out to the Father, embraces the Son, and is moved by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The spirit is eternal and reacts to all that is eternal. Here we are in the middle struggling to see if we want to dwell in the material or rise to the eternal. Decisions made with the flesh in mind, dictated by the flesh, and guided by those who dwell in the flesh will lead to a definite end which is always rooted in this world: a world that will with all that it holds end. Decisions made with the counsel and desire of the spirit have no limits and no boundaries. Nothing can limit them or hold them back.

It is exciting to be different. It is fascinating not to conform to something just to conform. Jesus wants us to act and be different; that is the key to a fruitful and joyous life. For every wicked act we should react with a joyous act. With every act of hatred kindness should be returned. Acts of charity should come with no expectation of repayment. Lend without interest, give selflessly, and love with abandon. There are no limits when these things are practiced with God in mind and the Holy Spirit in our hearts. That is why we are told to love our God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and body. From that love will come more love and everything else will be forced out.

We don’t need anything else anyway.

Deacon Tom