Be Perfect

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Mt. 5:48

The seemingly impossible call to be perfect is preceded by the how. Love my enemies.

Loving even my enemies seems impossible, which it is without grace from God. It starts with me deciding to wish the good of others. This not only benefits my enemies, it benefits me.

My response to injury from others can be that of Saint Stephen. Lord, hold not this sin against them. That prayer drains the poison of resentment and revenge.

Jesus, help me be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect.

Be Humble be Happy

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement;
Mt.5:22

What stops me loving others? Pride expressed by anger.

Anger is a red flag signaling something is wrong within me, not within the one to whom I am angry. Yes, there is a thing called righteous anger but that is something different and not so common. 

What is Jesus' recommended antidote for unrighteous anger? Reconciliation. The first step is to conquer pride with humility. Once I am reconciled with myself then, in humility, I can be reconciled with my brother.

Jesus, may there be less vain and prideful posturing in my life and more humility. May anger be banished from within me.

Active Love

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Mt.7:12

Jesus finishes his massive Sermon on the Mount with the "Golden Rule" that encapsulates everything he said.  Love others as you wish to be loved.

When acknowledging that all people are made in God's image, loving others also means I'm loving God. But wait, there's more! When I love others as I love myself I am actually loving myself as well. 

Jesus is talking about active love here, not sentimental love which I am prone to. Sentimental love only leaves my thoughts when it believes it will have an audience and be admired. Active love rolls up its sleeves and says, "Stuff it! I'm going to love anyway." 

Jesus, you are calling me to "do" my love to others. Help my love move from the sentimental to the active for those I meet today.

Our Father

Our Father...
Mt.6:9

When I approach God it's not just as a son. It's also as a brother. 

As when a clod of earth falls from the cliffs of Dover into the English Chanel makes all of England the lesser, my relationship with God affects everyone. When I sin the whole of humanity shrinks. When I'm filled with grace, all of humanity is blessed.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Open All Hours

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Lk.5:29

Matthew's first act after committing his life to Jesus was to host a party. Jesus didn't "regretfully decline" the invitation. He turned up and joined in.

This event has a wonderful parallel with another tax collector, Zacchaeus. Again the tax collector joyfully welcomes Jesus into his home while the pious onlookers complain. There's a common theme here. The "sick" knew their need for the healer and welcomed him. The self righteous complained. 

When I've got a tooth ache, all I can think about is the dentist.  When my teeth are OK, the dentist is the last person I think of. I feel pity for those sitting in the waiting room, maybe even a bit judgmental. They should have cared for their teeth better.

The truth is, I'm constantly in need of the divine physician. And if I'm not a patient at the moment then I should be a stretcher bearer for others. The surgery is open all hours. There's no place for complaining bystanders in heaven.

Saint Matthew, please pray for me.

No Time to Mourn

‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still with them?'
Mt.9:15

Jesus explicitly refers to himself as the bridegroom, one whose presence brings great joy. If he is the bridegroom then who am I?  The bride.

Jesus the groom. Me the bride. This is a powerful metaphor. The relationship between groom and bride is readily recognised as one of deep intimacy, love and joy. 

Is the bridegroom still with me? Yes. So this is not a time for mourning. May that time never come! 

My fasting is to be of the type described in today's first reading. Free the oppressed. Break the yoke. Feed the hungry. Attend the poor. Clothe the naked. This is a joy-filled fasting directed to others.

Today I seek the face of the one whom my soul loves in those who my "fasting" touches.

Play Possum

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Lk.9:23

What is Jesus saying it takes to follow him and live? Death.

The expression "Take up your cross" is often taken to mean pick up your burden. I don't think Jesus' audience would have heard it that way. They knew all about the cross. It was a ghastly instrument of torture and death deliberately stationed outside the city walls for them to see. 

Jesus is saying to me, "Mike, put to death your old man of self-centered obsessions and compulsions. Be born anew and live, come follow me. Then do it again tomorrow and the day after that."

Jesus seems to underscore this by adding in the following verse that "Everyone who loses his life will save it."

This reminds me of a great scene in the animated movie, Over The Hedge, where the daughter is embarrassed by her dad's constant pretending to be dead when threatened;

DAUGHTER: Isn't playing dead a little... weak?
DAD:              Heather, how many times must I say it? Playing possum is what we do. We die so that we live!

I'm going to play possum this Lent... daily.