Scripture Reflections for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“The saint is someone who through freedom integrates God's demands into his life so deeply that they become his own. They become second nature to him.”

“Without gainsaying grace for a second...but see, we have to choose our way because heaven is a life of love and love is always a choice.”

“Forgiveness is also about reclaiming the humanity that evil has tried to destroy. Accepting the grace of forgiveness moves one from being a victim to being a survivor, who often becomes a minister of healing to others. Forgiveness is a sure sign of God’s presence among us!”

“In fulfilling the Law Jesus invites us to a relationship that is grounded not in our conduct or in our misconduct but in our faith in him and his faithfulness to us. He calls us to live in His creative and redemptive love not merely as in a house but therein to make our home.”

“Anger is the emotion that seeks to change things. That is why anger ends in one of two ways. Either the angry person succeeds in changing the object of their anger, or accepts that it can’t be changed.”

“Where do our bad actions come from? That's what Jesus is interested in. He wants the Law to go all the way down there.”

“Once we have the gift of faith we are duty-bound to pass it on and make it relevant in our lives and to the world”

“The Church, yes, makes an extraordinary ethical demand. It wants us to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect. And at the same time the Church makes a radical offer of forgiveness.”

“Where as the ancient sages of Israel focused on actions, Jesus will focus on the interior space from which actions come. That's why we can say he's radical in his speaking for he gets to the roots of things. Radix in latin means root.”

“It is not easy to follow Jesus’ laws—in fact, it is impossible unless we share his Spirit”

“Jesus tells us how to live in the Kingdom of God today. Sirach reminds us that we have both a right and a responsibility to choose to live by God’s design, because when we choose, we choose both our behavior and the consequences of our behavior.”

“The wisdom taught by the Bible is, then, a kind of deep insight into the way things are, a deep insight that serves as a rule, a guide, for knowing how to live well, to be successful and to flourish as human beings, to be happy and fulfilled, to live as God wants us to live.”

“There is no shortcut to holiness than obeying God’s Law, appreciating it as God’s gift of love for our salvation”

“The incitement of the Sermon on the Mount is always to do more, because there is always more to you than you think”

“Just like the GPS will lay out a path that will avoid those areas of congestion, Jesus will lay out a path that will avoid those temptations, those near occasions of sin that would lead to those bad choices.”

“The Pharisees’ identification of purity as a sign of holiness brought them to separate themselves from others and from the world. In contrast, Jesus' understanding of holiness was based on a foundational relationship with God that orients our nature to all persons and things that are around us.”