Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time at Mississippi Abbey

Scripture Readings: Lev 19:1-2, 17-18; 1 Cor 3:16-23; Mt 5:38-48

Today’s readings heavily emphasize our ability for self-determination. The one emphasizing is Jesus Christ. He is also the exemplar of self-determination, i.e., of Christian Character. As we have learned before from Dietrich von Hildebrand, character is formed by the things we devote ourselves to for their own sake.Thus one’s character is a gift of the thing to which she devotes herself.

A secular approach to life features emphasis on power and coercion. Jesus’—and our—approach is one of love and patient endurance. It is one of willingness to forgive and to show mercy. In the formation of Christian character, Jesus is giving us the intention we must have in loving neighbor. It is that of pursuing the good of the other for the others own sake. This gospel is part of making us single–minded.

The patience and endurance described in the first part of this gospel—non-resistance to evil, turning the other cheek, giving freely to others—are only possible if a life is dominated by one all-consuming purpose or direction. And the substance of that purpose must be pervasive, enduring, and deep.

So in forming the intentions of His followers, He is forming their capacity to direct their conduct in accordance with convictions. That means we take certain courses of action for certain reasons and not others. We act for Christian reasons.

Note the emphasis on “we”. If a life is to be dominated by one all-consuming purpose that gives convictions from which we live unselfishly, this life must be lived in community. We need each other. In the verses immediately preceding this gospel Jesus warns against deceit. Because the devil is “the father of lies” the Church cannot permit relationships to be based on deceit and insincerity. Jesus tells us that hypocrisy is one of the main vices to be condemned and sincerity a chief virtue to be encouraged.

The same is true for the second part of the gospel: love of enemies. “An eye for an eye” retribution and interior scorn for those who offend us are only possible if we have not devoted ourselves to a source of power, to LOVE for its own sake.

That is what makes Christian ethics and Christian character distinct from secular ethics: our source of power is the person of Jesus Christ. We access that power from His community and from the gospel story or descriptions of living that He left us. Have you noticed how the gospel story arouses certain feelings in you? Maybe not. As Merton has said, the problem with the Good News is that it’s not news anymore. But attending to that subtle feeling reaction to the gospel is crucial if we are to receive Christian character and be devoted to the way. The behaviors Jesus prescribes today are not automatic, but must be cultivated. We will only do that out of devotion to Christ and participation in His body.

The moral significance of feelings lie in what they reveal to us about our attachments and obsessions, our inclinations and desires, and the dead spots of our lives. They tell us what we value.Jesus is telling us that to receive His character that allowed Him to forgive from the Cross, we must be willing to receive new feelings, new values from this key and distinctive teaching to love our enemies.

Jesus tells us this story because He knows that at every moment of our lives we are trying to act and live in a way that makes sense in relation to who we have been and who we hope to be.

Be love and mercy, He says. The Father is love and mercy and we must devote ourselves to Him. When we habitually hold this intention, practicing it however awkwardly, we are being perfect as God is perfect.