Monday, June 8, 2009

Tuesday June 9, 2009

Tuesday June 9, 2009 of the 10th week of Ordinary Time

Readings 2 Corinthians 1: 18-22 Psalm 119: 129-136 Matthew 5: 13-16
Response: “Lord, let Your face shine on me”

Ordinarily, Paul’s words would make no sense to us in our language. He points out the incongruity of answering both positively and negatively out of the same mouth.
God always uses the positive mood when He speaks to His people whether in person or through His Church. The “shalt nots” of the past proclamations, suited the genre of the people of God at the time of the Exodus. Now, however, Paul’s converts were of a different era and they were weary of proposals with more than one answer.
Paul insists on the positive; “Do this or do that” not leaving it up to the person’s intent but on the intent of God. Christ put it slightly differently when He said, “Say yes or say no” with little phumphing, a Yiddish expression leaving room for individual interpretation.
Our Church in earlier times, when education wasn’t the prevalent social attribute, discouraged our reading of the Scripture; not because we couldn’t read, but because there were few among us who could make sense of some of the transliterated language. There are some expressions in Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew with no direct translation. Biblical scholars are needed to interpret the true meaning; the Yes and the No of a particular passage in the context used by the author.

The psalmist uses many metaphors to describe the positive words of God. He substitutes Law, Statutes, Traditions, Ordinances, etc. to emphasize the obligation of the Jews to not pick and choose between renderings but to take the straight meaning and go with it!

Jesus, in talking to His disciples, tells them they are to be the flavoring of the Gospel, not the taste but the meaning. They are to be the light to the world. Since on their teaching revolves the salvation of the world, they are to explain it in terms not veiled but plain.
We distort the Word when we profess a doctrine as our own and then disregard it if the present situation doesn’t uit our fancy.

Say YES and NO!

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