Monday-Thursday June 20-23 included.

Dear Readers, Since I will be on retreat this week, I have prepared
several reflections on the Scriptures for the Mon-Thursday readings. I
will try to do the others if possible, that is, Friday and Saturday later.

Scripture: Lectionary # 371. Gen. 12:1-9. Psalm 33:12-13.18-19.20.22.
Matthew 9:1-5:

Faith is always being developed through the liturgy and through our prayer
both in community, parishes, and individually. It is the development of
our faith that leads us to go beyond doubts and rationalizations to the
actual experience of Jesus and his words. Jesus often makes it quite easy
for us in the way he does talk. We have experienced this in the down to
earth practical spirituality of the beatitudes and the other commandments
and advice that Jesus speaks in the Sermon on the Mount. We can easily
visualize the Lord as his living voice touches our ears and hearts. Today
he is making it quite clear and simple: "Do not judge others." Be not picky
about what we see in some of the habits and idiosyncracies of those with
whom we live and work. There is a story behind each of the grimaces,
quirks, and foibles we observe in others. We are not to judge them for
often we are just projecting or protecting our own habits that are just as
observable by others as we observe them. As a practical advice we are not
to speak about another in a judgmental way without the other being present.
This is a good Jewish rule. Moreover, returning to the living voice of
Jesus, he is telling us not to judge or we shall be judged.

The great philosopher, jurist, and writer, Maimonides (1135-1204) tells
us, "Listen to the truth from whomsover speaks it." How much more should
we listen to the words of Jesus who is the Word of God and the living
Truth. Jesus speaks nothing but the truth and we have a treasure chest of
his truth in the Sermon on the Mount.

In turning to our first reading which is about the development of faith in
the person of Abram who will become Abraham, the Father of a nation of
peoples, we see how his openness to listening to God's word leads him to
become a model for our faith. God leads him through many personal
experiences that make him grow into a covenantal faith and commitment to
God. He leaves his homeland and his relatives to go to a land he does not
know. We, too, can live out of experiences that can enhance our faith
development. We have not only the words and examples of Jesus and Abraham
but of all those who do the will of God in the pages of the Bible. Let us
listen then to the living voice of Jesus that comes through so clearly and
simply in the Sermon on the Mount in today's excerpt and in all of the ones
we have already heard in the liturgical readings of the Gospel of Matthew.
Amen.

Scripture: June 21, Lectionary # 372. Genesis 13:2.5-18. Psalm 15:
2-3.3-4.5. Matthew 7:6.12-14:

On this first day of summer we listen to Jesus telling us to choose the
narrow path that leads to the reign or kindgom of God. It is not an easy
path or road to travel and it is one that is less traveled. In following
the advice of Jesus we will be accomplishing our goal and purpose as his
disciples and apostles. He is always the Way, the Truth, and the Life for
us. We keep listening to the living voice of Jesus through the Gospels and
especially when they are read and heard in the liturgy. Sometimes we are
able to do some faith sharing on them as well. God's viewpoint is always
given to us in these sacred writings from both testaments and we are now
following Jesus in the New Testament and Abram in the Old Testament. Both
help us to find the road less traveled.

We all hear our friends who are wise telling us, make the right choices and
live by them. Make sure you realize that we have to live out the
consequences of our choices. This human condition and situation is part of
our daily lives; sometimes the choices are easy and routine at others they
demand courage and prudence. The path is narrow when we face hard
decisions. We keep in mind the advice of Jesus and also of the
Church---read the signs of the times and know what is happening in the
culture or cultures in which you live. One makes better choices when that
culture can be observed for its values and also for learning its selfish
pursuits. There is always a part of the culture that is connected to the
"world, the flesh, and the devil."

The simple lesson that Jesus gives us in the Sermon on the Mount for today:
"Treat others the way you would have them treat you." We recognize the
"golden rule" here and know how valuable it is in dealing with personal
relationships. Besides hearing this from Jesus we have heard it from many
others who are our heroes and models. Certainly we have learned it from the
saints.

Abram/Abraham shows us how to help make a good choice and how to help his
relative Lot to make a choice. He offers him the land that Lot thinks would
be best for his flocks and for his extended family. Abraham in seeing he
bigger picture realizes that God is at work in the choice he himself makes
to offer another the easy way out. The story is a good example of what
Jesus is talking about and what reading the signs of the culture is all
about. We realize that Abraham is the hero and model in this choice making
because it is done for the good of his neighbor, and done out of a generous
and magnanimous heart.

Scripture: June 22. Lectionaray 373. Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18. Psalm
105:1-2,3-4.6-7.l8-9. Matthew 7:15-20:

"Be on your guard against false prophets." We know how important this
advice from Jesus is as we read about certain "religious" figures who
predict the end of the world is around the corner or wil come on this
specific date or when we look at this specific calendar. We all had a
flood of this prediction in the year 2000 when all that is characteristic
of millenialism inundated the country. Hopefully we learned something
about it and maybe even about ourselves and our anxieties about when the
end would be. Recently we witnessed the action of some religious persons
who wanted to burn the sacred books of another person's religion probably
without even read one page of that religious text. Book burning is always
a bad omen. The Nazis did this with their pogroms and then created the
Shoah (the holocaust). Again in discerning who are the false prophets or
the false maxims and statements some leaders make, we need to discern the
signs of the times and know well the values and principles of the Gospel
and the Bible. Jesus has been teaching us these rules and guidelines in
the Sermon on the Mount.

Returning to the predictions of latter day prophets this statement from one
of the best and erudite of Scripture scholars says, "It may be important,
then, to propose for discussion a strong clarifying statement--one that
will scandalize some Christians (and implies no rejection of inspiration or
revelation). God has not revealed to human beings details about how the
world began or how it will end, and failing to recognize that, one is
likely to misread both the first book of the Bible (Genesis) and the last
book of the Bible (Revelation). The author of Revelation (the Apocalypse)
did not know how or when the world would end, and neither does anyone
else." (Intro to N.T., by R.E. Brown, pp. 809-810).

Scripture: June 23, Lectionary # 374: Genesis 16:1-2, 15-16. Psalm
106:1-2.3-4.4-5. Matthew 7:21-29.

Today's Gospel is both the ending of the Sermon on the Mount and also the
conclusion of the firs of five parts that is ordinarily given by those who
outline the Gospel of Matthew for us. We will now be hearing in the liturgy
of the word the second part (Matthew 8:1-10:42) that deals with the
ministry of Jesus in Galilee and his mission to the people of God, Israel.
Jesus is preaching a renewed Israel and a mission of good works and a call
to conversion on the part of all who listen to him.

The conclusion of the Sermon of Jesus is strong and is a warning to us that
we are to put our faith into active works of love and charity, to practice
and behave in accordance with what we share or speak as the Gospel, and
above all to "do the will of God." Being and doing are important to the
Gospel message. Jesus surprises us by saying that neither praying Lord,
Lord, nor prophesying, nor casting out demons, nor performing miracles are
a sign that we are fully integrated into what Jesus has shared with us in
the Sermon on the Mount. "Only the one who does the will of my Father in
heaven, will enter the kingdom of God."

As disciples (learners) and apostles (doers) of the Lord Jesus we are to
live as Jesus lived--selfgiving in our love for others, and good stewards
of God's creation, as well as those who are atuned to the living voice of
Jesus. It is only Jesus who saves not us! We are simply creative agents of
what God has done in Jesus who alone is our Savior. We shun the tendency of
being messianic ourselves and only look to the one Messiah.

Again, Fr. Brown summarizes this ending of the Sermon in a concise and
helpful way: "The praise of those who hear Jesus's words (Matthw 7:24-27)
as building a well-founded house almost constitutes a judgment against
those who reject him. The "When Jesus finished these words" terminates the
sermon, with the accompanying theme of astonishment at the authority of
Jesus' teaching." Jesus always teaches from within the power within him
(the Holy Spirit) therefore he teaches with authority.

We could do ourselves a service by rereading the entire Sermon on the Mount
sometime this today or sometime during this week to capture the bigger
picture and the full force of Jesus' blueprint for a blessed, that is, a
happy life. Amen. (Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5-7 of Matthew).