Scripture Reflections for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

“We are inclined to think of the Sermon on the Mount as a blueprint for our moral behaviour; but when we try to live by it, it seems to make impossible demands. But try reading it differently. Try seeing it as a description of Jesus himself, and the way he himself lived.”

“Violence can never be defeated by a higher, morally-superior violence. It can only be exposed and shown to be what it is, ignoble and belittling to the soul of the person perpetrating it. Nothing highlights this better than “turning the other cheek”, as Jesus prescribed this.”

“God's love, listen now, is not something that is doled out according to our categories of justice”

“embrace the truth that no one life is worth more than another in God's sight and this includes our enemies”

“The very difficulty of this approach throws one necessarily back on God and that's always a good thing. Compelling us to rely on grace. Because finally what Jesus is recommending here is a living out of the divine life. This constant, consistent path of love.”

“If we give in to the temptation to fail-to-seek-the-good-of-the-other-who-doesn’t-love-us-back, one more time the way of the world wins. God’s love loses. We lose. Even the world loses.”

“Offering compassion to those who offend us, extending a hand of forgiveness, is the greatest act of generosity precisely because it can open an avenue not just to reconciliation, but perhaps more importantly to repentance”

“God always gives us reason to love. We only need to discover it so that the world will be a living place.”

“It isn’t enough to just avoid sin if we want to grow in holiness. Christ commands us to do more than just the minimum to get by. What he asks of us is very difficult for most of us to do. Being a Christian isn’t easy.”

“today’s Scripture readings remind us that we are called to holiness. How do we respond to this call? By doing the seemingly impossible: Loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. Our holiness is revealed through the love and mercy we offer others.”

“One thing that we must realise is that our ability to fulfil the law of charity is dependent on Christ himself acting within us. Our Lord is the one who manifests in his life what the Sermon on the Mount teaches.”

“Nelson Mandela shows us that it is possible to reach out to those who differ from us and in reaching out, to liberate us both”

“What Jesus proposes, then, is that, rather than require compensation, you might overwhelm the wrongdoer by incredible generosity; and secondly, you might treat your enemies with the same justice as your neighbours.”

“Our job is not simply to make our way through a difficult world or even to be noble of agents of conventional justice. Our job is to be light and salt and image of God.”

“Holiness, the divine life, the divine otherness, is essentially a matter of love. In our love we are set apart from the world.”