Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
June 9, 2021
Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 361
Reading I
Brothers and sisters:
Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
Not that of ourselves we are qualified to take credit
for anything as coming from us;
rather, our qualification comes from God,
who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant,
not of letter but of spirit;
for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, was so glorious
that the children of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses
because of its glory that was going to fade,
how much more will the ministry of the Spirit be glorious?
For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious,
the ministry of righteousness will abound much more in glory.
Indeed, what was endowed with glory
has come to have no glory in this respect
because of the glory that surpasses it.
For if what was going to fade was glorious,
how much more will what endures be glorious.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (see 9c) Holy is the Lord our God.
Extol the LORD, our God,
and worship at his footstool;
holy is he!
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
and Samuel, among those who called upon his name;
they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
From the pillar of cloud he spoke to them;
they heard his decrees and the law he gave them.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
O LORD, our God, you answered them;
a forgiving God you were to them,
though requiting their misdeeds.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
Extol the LORD, our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for holy is the LORD, our God.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Teach me your paths, my God,
and guide me in your truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”
Reflection: PRACTICE VIRTUES WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS
Virtue permits no exceptions! A religious was once jovially saying that he keeps his chastity most of the time! One who is chaste 'most of the time' is not chaste, because this virtue allows no small escapades! No virtue does. This is what Jesus means, I guess, when he says that 'whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments ... will be considered least in the Kingdom of Heaven'. This is difficult for us to accept. All of us make efforts to be virtuous, but fail sometimes. "Failing" in a virtue due to human weakness is understandable. But claiming to practice the virtue while calculatedly making exceptions for some failures nullifies the virtue itself. It becomes a show. For a comparison, take the physical law of gravity. You have to respect it always if you wish to be safe and comfortable. You cannot say, just once in a while I make an exception and walk off the terrace of a building! What then is the way to be integrally virtuous? To love and enjoy being virtuous! If I do not enjoy being obedient, whenever I can, I will try to quietly disobey. But if I enjoy obeying my superiors, because I see God's will in them, then I will look for no exceptions. Enjoying virtues is the only way really to keep them integrally. Only such persons become great in the Kingdom of Heaven!