Looking Away

Jun 13: Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Happy feast of St. Anthony, Doctor of the Church, and patron of lost things.

Today's Gospel seems to be specifically about sexual morality and marriage, but even if these don’t apply to you in the moment, I think there's a way to extrapolate general principles from concrete examples. Jesus' lessons can apply far beyond their obvious interpretation.

Reading 1

2 Cor 4:7-15

Brothers and sisters: We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the Body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since, then, we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we too believe and therefore speak, knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in his presence. Everything indeed is for you, so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God.

When soldiers looted a city in ancient times, they would often put jewelry and previous metals into pots for easy carrying. Although the earthen vessels where necessary for transporting the treasure, they weren’t valuable in themselves; only what they carried.

So it is with Christians. We’re frail, fragile, fallible human beings. But we carry in our hearts the most precious thing—the Gospel.

It occurred to me (and take this with a grain of salt because I couldn’t find anyone else interpreting the text this way), Paul could also be referring to the Eucharist. We are dust and to dust we shall return, but “the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh” in a literal since, when we consume communion.

Either way, we’re not supposed to take pride in our own accomplishments, but recognize that the good we do is due to carrying Jesus in our hearts.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 116:10-11, 15-16, 17-18

R.(17a) To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
I believed, even when I said,
"I am greatly afflicted";
I said in my alarm,
"No man is dependable."
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.

It’s easy to believe in God when things are going well. But holding our faith in times of trouble is a much more difficult task.

We have to remember what Paul said in the first reading, “persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” Even if we die in this life, there’s victory in the next. Sometimes our suffering has a greater purpose than we can understand.

Alleluia

Phil 2:15d, 16a

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Shine like lights in the world,
as you hold on to the word of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

God is beyond the world, but we are of it. We are not meant to be silent.

Gospel

Mt 5:27-32

Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.

"It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."

Sin begins in our habits. We don't even realize what we're doing much of the time. We don't seek to covet, for example.

It's not enough to simply not commit adultery (or any sin); we have to actively avoid it. Plucking out our eyes is a dramatic and memorable illustration, but we don't have to take it literally. We must avoid the near occasion of sin.