Reflections for Monday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Word

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

Mathew: 5:42 "Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.”


Today's Reflection

The principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth which Jesus quotes from the Jewish Scriptures was meant at the time to put a restraint on the desire for revenge.

There was only to be one eye for one eye not 100 eyes for one eye. In relatively recent times, some waring nations adopting the principle of taking ten or more times the number of lives for lives that were taken.


It has always been a tendency of war time to behave in this way.


In that context, an eye for an eye could be understood as an enlightened policy.


Revenge was to be proportionate. However, as in so much else in the Jewish Scriptures,

Jesus goes beyond even this relatively enlightened principle.


There is to be no place for revenge or retaliation within the community of his followers.


‘Offer the wicked man no resistance’.


In other words, evil is not to be met with evil, not even with proportionate evil.


Rather evil is to be met with goodness and generosity.


Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans expressed this teaching of Jesus very succinctly, ‘do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’.


It is a hugely challenging teaching.


Our human instinct is often to fight fire with fire, wrong with wrong, violence with violence, rejection with rejection, insult with insult.


It is the human instinct but it is clearly not the divine instinct.


We can only operate out of the divine instinct of overcoming evil with good, with divine help, with the help of the Holy Spirit.


We do occasionally witness within human relations evil being overcome by good.


When that happens, we can be certain that there the Holy Spirit is at work.


We don't not just act on instinct alone. We also live by faith.


Faith tells us that God will listen to us and come to our help when the wicked want to threaten or harm us.


Resisting the wicked will only result in loss of eyes and teeth.


Resolution


Let's resolve to let God come to our help and we will see His saving power protecting us.


GOD BLESS YOU 🙏

Good morning. Have a nice day

and beautiful week days ahead