Texts taken from the Missalette “On Your Word” January-February 2022

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
3rd week. psalter

FIRST READING

From the first book of Samuel (1 Sam 26:2,7-9,12-13,22-23)
In those days, Saul set out and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, taking with him three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph. David and Abishai went among the people by night, and there was Saul lying sound asleep among the wagons, with his spear stuck in the ground beside his head, while Abner and the troops lay around him. Abishai said to David: “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with the spear with one stroke, and I will not need a second.” But David said to Abishai: “Do not kill him! For who can stretch out a hand against the Lord’s anointed and remain innocent?” David took the spear and the water jug that were beside Saul’s head, and they went away; no one saw or noticed or woke up: they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them. David crossed to the other side and stood far away on the top of the mountain; there was a great distance between them. David cried out: “Here is the king’s spear: let one of the servants come over and take it! The Lord will reward each one according to his justice and faithfulness, because today the Lord delivered you into my hands and I would not raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed.”

Commentary on the first reading

King Saul seeks David in order to kill him. Although he freed the people from the giant Goliath and had always shown faithfulness and modesty, David is the object of Saul’s jealousy. The moment arrives when David can put an end to this persecution, managing to approach the camp where King Saul is sleeping. But he does not want to lay hands on the king, because he is the Lord’s anointed. This nobility of spirit also tells us about the importance of the sacredness of one’s role. David lets God judge: he does not want to make himself guilty of the death of a man chosen by God to lead the nation. Saint Paul takes up this theme when he urges us not to seek our own justice in disputes with our neighbor, but to respond to injustice with love and forgiveness, leaving judgment to God: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for divine justice. On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good” (cf. Rom 12:19-21).

SECOND READING

From the first letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:45-49)
Brothers and sisters, the first man, Adam, became a living being, but the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

Commentary on the second reading

What a great qualitative difference there is between Adam, and therefore all of us as well, and the man-Jesus! Adam was created, formed from the mud, with an “animal” body, whereas Jesus, although he has a body like ours, comes from heaven, because he is God: his body is heavenly. Yet this clear separation has been overcome - and this is the great Christian message - through the Lord’s resurrection and the gift of the Spirit. In Baptism we receive the same Spirit that is in Jesus, the Holy Spirit, through whom our earthly and carnal self becomes spiritual. During life we must conform ourselves to the Spirit, who urges us and calls for purification. We are therefore told that after death we will have a spiritual body, like that of Jesus, no longer subject to materiality and the needs of time. As long as we are alive, we are called to enter this reality through acts of love, increasingly transforming the carnal into the spiritual. This is our condition: “Our outer self is wasting away, while our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor 4:16).

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:27-38)
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear, I say: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other as well; to the one who takes your cloak, do not refuse even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and from the one who takes what is yours, do not demand it back. And just as you want people to do to you, do the same to them. If you love those who love you, what gratitude is due to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what gratitude is due to you? Even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what gratitude is due to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much again. Instead, love your enemies, do good and lend without hoping for anything in return, and your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap, because the measure you use will be measured back to you.”

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

In Luke’s Gospel, the famous “Sermon on the Mount,” arranged so well in Matthew’s Gospel, is instead divided among different moments of Jesus’ preaching. But the subject is the same: the new law of the true child of God. The conduct of God’s child must be that of Jesus: he forgives, loves, is kind and selfless, cares more about the good of the other than his own, and lives only to make others happy. Only goodness wins people over. Ordinary love does not convince, whereas supernatural goodness draws souls to God. People see in us a new strength that they do not have, because the world cannot give what it does not possess. Goodness beyond measure is the divine character of life: we will never regret having been good, tolerant, patient, full of reverence and kindness toward our neighbor, whoever they may be. To live at this level, good will alone is not enough: we must pray and ask Jesus for his Spirit every day. If until now we have been “ordinary,” let us begin to be Christians: let us love our enemies, not condemn, forgive, and not judge; God will help us in this, and the world will realize that Christians are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.