The Catholic Calendar for Friday, June 16, 2006
The Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:

1Kings 19:9, 11-16
Psalm 27:7-9, 13-14
Matthew 5:27-32

A reflection on today's Scripture. . . .

"It is better . . . to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna." (Matthew 5:29)

Our first reading prepares us to receive the gift Christ gives us beyond His sacrificial death for the remission of our sin, since inherent in this gift is the need to amend our behavior by the grace given to us through faith in Him. In 1 Kings, Elijah's encounter with God takes place on the same Mt. Horeb (Sinai) where Moses received the Commandments, the basic conditions of living in God's covenant of love. Elijah's mission, along with the other prophets, was to exhort the Israelites to return to the true faith, intimacy with God, so that they would be enabled to recognize their coming Messiah.

Today's Gospel is mocked by secular minds, those circumventing marriage, freeing themselves from spousal faithfulness and responsibility through cohabitation. Marriage is no longer seen as a sacred covenant between a man and woman entered into before God; hence, divorce and remarriage (serial adultery) is now commonplace. In such unstable and amoral situations children suffer from abuse, neglect or abandonment while society is burdened financially and the disorder resulting from fragmented families. Selfishness that seeks immediate and perfect physical and emotional satisfaction is the motivating force behind such precipitous, mindless and casual unions.

Jesus is surely not advocating physical self-mutilation but strongly reminds us that we cannot "divorce" ourselves from the "Word of life" and survive spiritually. Any sacrifice is worth escaping the fires of Gehenna reserved for those who worship and gratify self regardless of the cost to others.

Blessed Savior, cleanse us of selfishness and imbue our hearts with the same sacrificial love for one another as that which You revealed for us upon the cross. Amen.

- Marie Bocko, OCDS
(mlbocko at earthlink dot net)