I received an email from someone who was able to access my Sunday homily in which I described the events of an air raid during the Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 1944) when aviators returning in the pitch black, low on fuel, wondering how they could possibly find the fleet and safely land – were suddenly greeted with the “light of the world.”
This coming Sunday is the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time in Lectionary Cycle A. The gospel reading is from the discourse popularly known as the Sermon on the Mount which we began on the 4th Sunday. There are two options for the proclamation of the gospel. One is quite long (Mt 5:17-37) while the shorter version extracts key verses (Mt 5:20-22a, 27-28, 33-34a, 37). A typical outline of the longer version suggests five blocks of teaching as Jesus continues to address his disciples. The blocks are teachings about the Law, anger, adultery, divorce and oaths. Each block within the longer reading offers examples to illustrate the point. The shorter version offers a succinct comparison of the current Jewish teaching (You have heard it said…) with a more complete understanding of what God intended (but I say to you…) as offered by Jesus. It would be a good idea to pause from this post to read the whole of the gospel passage. Continue reading
friarmusings 