June 14, 2013
Friday, 10th Week in
Ordinary Time
1st Reading: 2 Cor 4:7–15
Gospel: Mt 5:27–32
Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said: Do not commit adultery. But I tell you this: anyone who looks at a woman to satisfy his lust has in fact already committed adultery with her in his heart.
“So, if your right eye causes you to sin, pull it out and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is better for you to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell.
“It was also said: anyone who divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce. But what I tell you is this: If a man divorces his wife except in the case of unlawful union, he causes her to commit adultery. And the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
D@iGITAL… EXPERIENCE Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience
We continue reading today Jesus’ discourse on the proper Christian conduct. Jesus justifies each Christian conduct with legal basis from existing laws or precepts (“you have heard it said”) and adds his own input (“but now I tell you”). Thus in condemning adultery with legal basis, he hastens to add that adultery commences at the moment a man looks at a woman with lust.
It sounds like Jesus is exaggerating. But then we realize that no sacrifice is too big in avoiding sin. “An ounce of prevention is better than a thousand cure” is a valid maxim even in the spiritual realm. St. John Bosco, the patron of youth, believed that earlier steps must be taken to avoid sin by putting up the so called Preventive System of Education. Under this system, students are warned to “be wary of bad companions” and to avoid not only sin but even the occasions of it.
Jesus saw prevention as a serious responsibility of a disciple. He even prescribed, without being literal, the plucking off of the eyes that lead one to commit sin. For Jesus, no sacrifice is too great if only to avoid condemnation in hell.
The second tier of today’s Gospel reading (about divorce) follows a format of contradiction. Moses thought he may as well prescribe proper procedure for divorce since the people insisted on practicing divorce anyway. But Jesus disapproved such compromise as he affirmed the inviolability of marriage.
Today’s two-tiered Gospel reading gives us a clue how to respond to Jesus’ call for deeper spirituality, namely, by nipping evil in the bud the earliest we detect it, and by not ever compromising our faith. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org
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