Weekly Newsletter: 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Mersey Leven Catholic Parish

OUR VISION

To be a vibrant Catholic Community

unified in its commitment

to growing disciples for Christ

Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney
Mob: 0417 279 437
mike.delaney@aohtas.org.au
Assistant Priest: Fr Paschal Okpon
Mob: 0438 562 731
paschalokpon@yahoo.com
Priest in Residence: Fr Phil McCormack
Mob: 0437 521 257
pmccormack43@bigpond.com
Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160
Email: merseyleven@aohtas.org.au
Secretary: Annie Davies
Finance Officer: Anne Fisher
Pastoral Council Chair: Felicity Sly
Mob: 0418 301 573
fsly@internode.on.net

Mersey Leven Catholic Parish Weekly Newsletter: mlcathparish.blogspot.com.au

Parish Mass times for the Month: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au

Weekly Homily Podcast: mikedelaney.podomatic.com

Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.

PLENARY COUNCIL PRAYER

Come, Holy Spirit of Pentecost.
Come, Holy Spirit of the great South Land.
O God, bless and unite all your people in Australia
and guide us on the pilgrim way of the Plenary Council.
Give us the grace to see your face in one another
and to recognise Jesus, our companion on the road.
Give us the courage to tell our stories and to speak boldly of your truth.
Give us ears to listen humbly to each other
and a discerning heart to hear what you are saying.
Lead your Church into a hope-filled future,
that we may live the joy of the Gospel.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, bread for the journey from age to age.
Amen.
Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us.
St Mary MacKillop, pray for us.

Parish Prayer

Heavenly Father,

We thank you for gathering us together
and calling us to serve as your disciples.

You have charged us through Your Son, Jesus, with the great mission

of evangelising and witnessing your love to the world.

Send your Holy Spirit to guide us as we discern your will

for the spiritual renewal of our parish.

Give us strength, courage, and clear vision
as we use our gifts to serve you.

We entrust our parish family to the care of Mary, our mother,

and ask for her intercession and guidance
as we strive to bear witness

to the Gospel and build an amazing parish.

Amen.

Our Parish Sacramental Life

Baptism: Arrangements are made by contacting Parish Office. Parents attend a Baptismal Preparation Session organised with a Priest.

Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist: Are received following a Family–centred, Parish-based, School-supported Preparation Program.

Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: prepares adults for reception into the Catholic community.

Marriage: arrangements are made by contacting one of our priests - couples attend a Pre-marriage Program

Anointing of the Sick: please contact one of our priests

Reconciliation: Ulverstone - Fridays (10am - 10:30am), Devonport - Saturday (5:15pm– 5.45pm)

Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport:

Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Benediction with Adoration Devonport: First Friday each month - commences at 10am and concludes with Mass - in recess until 7th February

Legion of Mary: Wednesdays 11am Sacred Heart Church Community Room, Ulverstone

Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – 6:30pm Mondays, Community Room, Ulverstone

Weekday Masses 25th - 28th February, 2020

Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin

Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe ... Ash Wednesday
12noon Devonport
7:00pm Ulverstone

Thursday: 12noon Devonport

Friday: 9:30am Ulverstone

Next Weekend 29th Feb – 1st March, 2020

Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin

6:00pm Devonport LWC

Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell

9:00am Ulverstone LWC

10:30am Devonport

11:00am Sheffield LWC

5:00pm Latrobe

MINISTRY ROSTERS 29th February & 1st March, 2020

Devonport:

Readers: Vigil: M Stewart, M Gaffney, H Lim 10:30am: F Sly, J Tuxworth, T Omogbai-musa

Ministers of Communion: Vigil D Peters, M Heazlewood, T Muir, M Gerrand, P Shelverton

10.30am: F Sly, E Petts, K Hull, S Arrowsmith, K & K Maynard

Cleaners: 28th Feb: K.S.C. 6th March: M.W.C.

Piety Shop: 29^th Feb: A Berryman 1^st March: P Piccolo

Ulverstone:

Reader/s: Flowers: M Swain Hospitality: Filipino Community Cleaning: Murray’s

Ministers of Communion: M Murray, J Pisarskis, C Harvey, P Grech

Penguin:

Greeters P Ravaillion, P Lade Commentator: A Landers Readers: J Barker, M Hiscutt

Ministers of Communion: P Lade, T Clayton Liturgy: S.C. C Setting Up: S Ewing

Care of Church: M Murray, E Nickols

Latrobe:

Reader: S Ritchie Minister of Communion: B Ritchie Procession of Gifts: J Hyde

Port Sorell:

Readers: G & V Duff Ministers of Communion: G Gigliotti Cleaners: A Hynes

Readings this Week: 7^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A

First Reading: Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 3: 16-23

Gospel: Matthew 5: 38-48

PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAYS GOSPEL

I come to my place of prayer and take the time to pause, to relax my body and still my mind. I breathe in God’s goodness and love, and I rest in his presence.

When I am ready, I read the text slowly, a couple of times.

I contemplate Jesus as he teaches his disciples. He speaks with authority.

He asks me to be led and guided by him – which is not necessarily what the culture around me would favour.

Which of his words resonate with me or challenge me?

I ponder … How do I react when someone offends, hurts or insults me?

How would Jesus's values suggest that I act? I speak to him of this.

How can I try and understand what is in the mind, heart or attitude of the one who treats me badly?

In what way does my prayer help me to see God present in all this?

I take the time to speak to God, my Father, asking him to show me where I fail, and praying for his help.

I end with a slow Our Father ...

Readings Next Week: 1^st Sunday of Lent – Year A

First Reading: Genesis 2: 7-9; 3: 1-7

Second Reading: Romans 5: 12-19

Gospel: Matthew 4: 1-11

Your prayers are asked for the sick: Judith Xavier, Brian Pilling, Pat Barker, Paul Richardson, & …

Let us pray for those who have died recently: Annette McCulloch,

Arnold Chave, Kellie Hofmeyer, Barry McCall, Christiana Okpon,

Jeremy Martin, Walter Jerrico, Stan Adkins, Janice Walker,

Tony Brown, Patrick Berry, Terence Myers, & …

Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 19th – 25th February, 2020

Bill Masterson, Mervyn Burke, Joyce McConnon, Lisa Natoli, Collin Morgan, Michael Duggan,

Max Watson, Rita Sullivan, Kristine Morgan, Thea Nicholas, Glen Clark, Reg Alderson, Irene Kilby, Connie Fulton, Des Peters, Lyell Byrne, Nancy Kelly and Michael Ravaillion. Also deceased relatives and friends of Ravaillion, Robertson & Proctor families.

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen

Weekly Ramblings

Just a reminder that the Meetings for parents of children wishing to participate in our Sacramental Program in 2020 will be held this Monday, 24th Feb at 7pm at OLOL Church and on Tuesday, 25th Feb at 7pm at Sacred Heart Church. If you know of children who are in Gr 3 or older who wish to be part of this program please invite their parents to come to one or other of these meetings.

Next Wednesday we celebrate Ash Wednesday – times of Masses are included on the front page of the Newsletter. This weekend is also Project Compassion Sunday and materials for Project Compassion 2020 are available for collection at each of our Churches.

This week also marks the commencement of our Lenten Discussion Groups. The ‘Be Opened’ Booklets for the weekly discussion are available for participants. A reminder that the Daily Reflection Booklet – Grace – is also available.

As Fr Paschal prepares to return to Nigeria on Tuesday for the funeral of his mother we again extend our prayers and support to him and his family at this time. Her funeral will be celebrated on Saturday 7th March – there will be Mass at Ulverstone at 9.30am on that morning and Parishioners are invited to join with me as we celebrate that Mass for the repose of her soul.

Take care on the roads and in your homes,

PROJECT COMPASSION – SUNDAY 23rd FEBRUARY

Please take home a Project Compassion box and/or a set of donation envelopes and support Caritas Australia this Lenten Season themed “Go Further Together”. Your generosity will assist some of the world’s most vulnerable communities to lift themselves out of poverty.

When we Go Further Together in love and compassion, the whole world thrives.

You can donate through Parish boxes and envelopes, or by phoning 1800 024 413 or www.caritas.org.au/projectcompassion.

PRAYERS FOR RELIEF:

We continue our Prayer for Relief at Pathway Church, 22 Nicholls Street, Devonport on Tuesday, 25th February at 6pm. This is opportunity for the Churches in Devonport to show their unity as we pray together for relief for all those suffering in all aspects of life.

MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE:

Spirituality in the Coffee Shoppe - Monday 24th February 10.30am – 12 noon

You are invited to join us for morning tea and some lively discussion about what’s on your mind.

All welcome! We look forward to your company at 123 William Street, FORTH.

Phone: 6428:3095 No bookings necessary. Donation appreciated.

2020 LENTEN GROUPS:

There are several Lenten Groups meeting in our Parish commencing from 26th February.

Groups: Penguin Tuesday mornings after Mass; Devonport Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday evening; Ulverstone Wednesday evening; Devonport Thursday morning; Port Sorell Thursday afternoon; and Latrobe Friday morning.

If you would like to participate in one of these groups, please add your name to a list which can be found in Church foyers.

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER:

Friday 6th March at St Mary’s Church, Penguin at 10am. Please bring a plate of food to share. All welcome!

SEEK THE TRUTH

Acknowledgement and Sorrow for Survivors of Past Sexual Abuse

A ritual will be held to acknowledge the sexual abuse that took place at Marist College (now Marist Regional College) and in the Burnie Parish (now Burnie-Wynyard Parish), particularly while the Marist Fathers were custodians of both.

The Ritual of Acknowledgement and Sorrow has been planned by the Marist Regional College ‘Seek the Truth’ Committee, comprising staff and board members from the College, survivors of abuse, local parishioners and representatives of the Marist Fathers.

This is an important first step in the necessary acknowledgment and healing of past abuse.

Survivors of sexual abuse, together with their partners, family members, friends, and others associated with the College and Parish, are warmly invited to attend. Archbishop Julian Porteous and Marist Fathers Provincial Fr Tony Corcoran will also be present. A light lunch will follow at the Gardens.

The ritual will take place in Burnie on Saturday 21st March 2020, at 11.00am at the Emu Valley Rhodendron Gardens, 55 Breffny Rd, Romaine.

People wishing to attend are invited to indicate their interest to comms@mrc.tas.edu.au

The Committee is also planning a plaque as a tangible sign of lasting acknowledgment and sorrow to be placed at a later date in the Reconciliation Garden at the entrance to Marist Regional College.

THURSDAY 27th February – Eyes down 7:30pm. Callers Rod Clark & Brendan O’Connor

FOOTY TICKETS:

2020 AFL Footy Season starts Friday 20th March.

Over the last few seasons we have had unsold tickets on a weekly basis therefore we have reduced the number. There will be two weekly winners of $100.00 instead of three. A reminder that the footy margin is for the Friday night game played at the MCG each week. For anyone who would like to join, the footy tickets can be purchased for the full season $54.00 ($64.00 with $10.00 grand final ticket). If you wish to do so payment and collection of tickets will commence first week in March. Tickets will also be sold at Port Sorell, Devonport and Ulverstone each weekend for $2.00. You need to be in it to win it!

Tuesday 25th February Fr Phil will be celebrating his 77th Birthday.

God Bless you Fr Phil, may your day be filled with love and happiness!

Letter From Rome

Time to Bury the Clergy-Centred Church

Depriving the Christian faithful of their right to Word and Sacraments by Robert Mickens, Rome. February 20, 2020. This article is from the La-Croix International website - you can access the site here but complete full access is via paid subscription

What's the greatest threat to the Roman Catholic Church today – a schism? Or the rise in power of fundamentalist clericalists?

José María Castillo, himself a priest, believes it's the latter.

The 90-year-old Spaniard was one of the most influential theologians in Latin America and elsewhere during the first couple decades following the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). His books, published in the dozens, were mandatory reading in many Spanish-speaking seminaries and universities immediately after the Council.

Then they weren't.

Not long after his election in 1978, John Paul II put the breaks on the push for further ecclesial reform (as theologians like Castillo were advocating) and began his restorationist project of carefully narrowing the interpretation and application of the Vatican II documents.

One way the Polish pope did this was by appointing compliant and doctrinally conservative (and unimaginative) bishops. They, in turn, with the support of the Vatican's doctrinal office, began silencing and marginalizing theologians like Castillo.

A return of the early post-Vatican II theologians

These theologians have found a new lease on their ecclesial lives since Jorge Mario Bergoglio SJ was elected Bishop of Rome in 2013.

The man we now call Pope Francis, even without any formal writ of rehabilitation, has allowed them to begin contributing again to the discussions, debates and process of discernment that his pontificate has re-introduced in the Church.

It is nothing short of amazing how much the atmosphere inside the Church has changed in just seven years.

Archbishop Piero Marini, the longtime Vatican official most identified with the post-conciliar liturgical reforms, said just after Francis' election that we had been "breathing the air of a swamp."

Unfortunately, the Argentine pope, who is famous even beyond Church circles for being one of the world's most outspoken defenders of the environment, has not been able to completely clean up the old, stifling atmosphere within centralized Catholicism.

There are priests, bishops and cardinals in places of influence and power – in Rome and abroad – who are doing everything they can to stop the 83-year-old pope from making any changes that might threaten their clericalist privileges.

The clericalists strike back

And one of the sinister methods they are using to try halt him in his tracks is to constantly raise the specter of a Church schism.

Some commentators believe this was at least a factor in the pope's decision not to mention, in his recent exhortation on the Amazon, the issue of married priests and women deacons.

"At the Vatican the ideas and interests of the cardinals, bishops and monsignors that represent the conservative clergy far outweigh the deprived needs of the hundreds of thousands of Catholics who live in the Amazon region," José María Castillo has observed.

In an article published Feb. 17 on the site Religión Digital, he said the threat posed by the continued, lopsided influence of such clericalists is much more serious than any possible schism.

And the reason is simple. The clericalists, just a miniscule part of the 1.2 billion-member Church, are seriously violating the rights of the Catholic faithful.

Castillo cited paragraph 37 of Lumen gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church.

"The laity have the right, as do all Christians, to receive in abundance from their spiritual shepherds the spiritual goods of the Church, especially the assistance of the word of God and of the sacraments," that Vatican II text says.

The obligation to feed God's people

With every right there is an obligation. And here it is the obligation and responsibility of the Church's spiritual pastors (first and foremost its bishops) to provide the Catholic people with the sacraments.

But the bishops are not doing that in the Amazon. Nor are they doing it in many other places of the world where there are not enough ordained presbyters to lead Eucharistic celebrations – i.e. to validly consecrate the hosts.

"It is a pressing obligation of Church authority to adequately respond to this right of the faithful," Castillo wrote.

"It's a duty the pope must respond to despite the arguments and interests of the fundamentalist and conservative clergy," he continued.

"In the Church of the early centuries every community had the recognized right to elect its ministers. And even the right to remove them when the ministers' behavior was not in conformity with their mission," he noted.

He cited the acts from a synod held in Spain in the 3rd century to show that even Rome upheld this right. And, thus, the Church consisted in the community more than in the clergy.

Priorities upside down

But today, he said, the situation is totally reversed.

"That which is imposed is what's in the interest and convenience of the clergy, even when that leads to the religious and evangelical abandonment of hundreds of thousands of Catholics," he wrote.

"It's extremely important to underline very clearly that this situation will only be resolved when two, ever more pressing decisions are made: 1.) allow the presbyteral ordination of married men; 2.) establish equal rights for men and women in the Church," he said.

The bishops should not wait for the pope to do this. Nor should they expect him do so, at least not on his own.

They can take action now to fulfill their responsibility to provide their people with the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. The first step is to formally petition the pope to allow the ordination of married men.

The legal way forward

The bishops at the Synod assembly on the Amazon "proposed" this, but – technically – they did use the canonical language over which people like Cardinal Baldisseri love to split hairs.

In fact, there is a canonical process that a bishop or conference of bishops (or perhaps a Synod assembly) can follow to request the ordination of married men.

The Code of Canon Law actually foresees this possibility.

While it states that "a man who has a wife" is simply impeded from receiving holy orders (Can. 1042, no. 1), it also says – quite specifically – that the Holy See can dispense of this impediment (cf. Can. 1047 § 2, no. 3).

We often say it's easier to get what you want if you ask nicely.

In the Catholic Church – yes, also in the pontificate of Pope Francis – it's even better if you ask "canonically."

Sacred Silence

This article is taken from the Daily Email sent by Fr Richard Rohr OFM from the Center for Action and Contemplation. You can subscribe to receive the email by clicking here

Most of us who live in a capitalist culture, where everything is about competing and comparing, will find contemplation extremely counterintuitive. How do we grasp something as empty, as harmless, as seemingly fruitless as the practice of silence? Only when we know that it also offers a “peace beyond understanding” (Philippians 4:7) and a “joy that no one can take from you” (John 16:22).

Silence needs to be understood in a larger way than simply a lack of audible noise. Whenever emptiness—what seems like empty space or absence of sound—becomes its own kind of fullness with its own kind of sweet voice, we have just experienced sacred silence.

When religious folks limit their focus in prayer to external technique and formula, the soul remains largely untouched and unchanged. Too much emphasis on what I call “social prayer” or wordy prayer feeds our egos and gives us far too much to argue about. That is surely why Jesus emphasized quiet prayer in one’s own “inner room” and warned us not to “babble on as the pagans do” (Matthew 6:5-7). Oh, the years we Catholics and others have wasted arguing about liturgy in a juridical way! For me, law and liturgy are two different realms. How can we truly pray when we are preoccupied with formula and perfection of technique?

If we can see silence as the ground of all words and the birth of all words, then when we speak, our words will be calmer and well-chosen. Our thoughts will be non-judgmental. Our actions will have greater integrity and impact.

When we recognize something as beautiful, that knowledge partly emerges from the silence around it. It may be why we are quiet in art galleries and symphony halls. If something is not surrounded by the vastness of silence and space, it is hard to appreciate it as singular and beautiful. If it is all mixed in with everything else, then its particularity does not stand out.

As one author I read years ago said, silence is the net below the tightrope walker. [1] We are walking, trying to find the right words to explain our experience and the right actions to match our values. Silence is that safety net that allows us to fall; it admits, as poets often do, that no words or deeds will ever be perfectly right or sufficient. So the poet keeps trying, for which we are grateful! The great spaciousness and safety net beneath a tightrope walker is silence; it offers freedom from self-preoccupation and the fear of making a mistake. A regular practice of contemplation helps us trust that silence will uphold us, receive our mistakes, and give us the courage to learn and grow.

Adapted from Richard Rohr, Silent Compassion: Finding God in Contemplation (Franciscan Media: 2014), 7-9.

Speaking With Authority

This article is taken from the archive of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find this article and many others by clicking here

We are growing ever more distrustful of words. Everywhere we hear people say: “That’s just talk! That’s nothing but empty words!”

And empty words are all around us. Our world is full of lies, of false promises, of glittering advertising that doesn’t deliver, of words never backed up by anything. We trust less and less in what we hear. We’ve been lied to and betrayed far too often, now we’re cautious about what we believe.

But distrust in the words we hear is only one way in which our spoken word is weak. Our words can be truthful and still have little power. Why? Because, to use Gospel terms, we may not be speaking with much authority. Our words may not have what they need to back them up. What’s meant by this?

The Gospels tells us that one of things that distinguished Jesus for the other religious preachers of his time was that he spoke with authority, while they didn’t. What gives words authority? What gives them transformative power?

There are, as we know, different kinds of power. There’s a power that flows from strength and energy. We see this, for example, in the body of a gifted athlete who moves with authority. There’s power too in charisma, in a gifted speaker or a rock star. They too speak with a certain authority and power. But there’s still another kind of power and authority, one very different in kind from that of the athlete and the rock star. There’s the power of a baby, the paradoxical power of vulnerability, innocence, and helplessness. Powerlessness is sometimes the real power. If you put an athlete, a rock star, and a baby into the same room, who among them is the most powerful? Who has the most authority? Whatever the power of the athlete or the rock star, the baby has more power to change hearts.

The Gospel texts which tell us that Jesus spoke with “authority” never suggest that he spoke with “great energy” or “powerful charisma”. In describing Jesus’ authority they use the word “exousia”, a Greek word for which we don’t have an English equivalent. What’s “exousia”? We don’t have a term for it, but we have a concept: “Exousia” might be described as the combination of vulnerability, innocence, and helplessness that a baby brings into a room. Its very helplessness, innocence, and vulnerability have a unique authority and power to touch your conscience. It’s for good reason that people watch their language around a baby. Its very presence is cleansing.

But there are a couple of other elements too undergirding the authority with which Jesus spoke. His vulnerability and innocence gave his words a special power, yes; but two other elements also made his words powerful: His words were always grounded in the integrity of his life. As well, people recognized that his authority was not coming from him but from something (Someone) higher whom he was serving. There was no discrepancy between his words and his life. Moreover, his words were powerful because they weren’t just coming from him, they were coming through him from Someone above him, Someone whose authority couldn’t be challenged, God.

You see this kind of authority; for example, in persons like Mother Teresa and Jean Vanier. Their words had a special authority. Mother Teresa could meet someone for the first time and ask him or her to come to India and work with her. Jean Vanier could do the same. A friend of mine shares how on meeting Vanier for the first time, in their very first conversation, Vanier invited him to become a missionary priest. That thought had never before crossed his mind. Today he’s a missionary.

What gives some people that special power? “Exousia”, a selfless life, and a grounding in an authority that comes from above. What you see in persons like Mother Teresa and Jean Vanier is the powerlessness of a baby, combined with a selfless life, grounded in an authority beyond them. When such persons speak, like Jesus’, their words have real power to calm hearts, heal them, change them and, metaphorically and really, cast out demons from them.

But we don’t always have to look to spiritual giants like Mother Teresa and Jean Vanier to see this. Most of us have not been so personally influenced by Mother Teresa or Jean Vanier, but have been spoken to with authority by people around us. In my case, it was my father and mother who spoke to me with that kind of authority. As well some of the Ursuline nuns who taught me in school and some of my uncles and aunts had the power to ask sacrifice of me because they spoke with “exousia” and with an integrity and a faith that I could not question or deny. They asked me to consider becoming a priest and I became one.

What moves the world is often the powerful energy and charisma of the highly talented; but the heart is moved by a different kind of authority.

Annual Appeal for Catholic Ministries

This article is taken from the Blog posted by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timoneum, Baltimore. You can find the original blog by clicking here

As a part of our current message series on “Life with Family”, we’ve acknowledged that families come in many different shapes and sizes. They are continuously changing as seasons of life unfold. Even nuclear families change as kids get older, go off to college, and, eventually, leave the nest to start their own families.

Increasingly, we also use the term ‘family’ to describe communities that come together over a shared interest or passion. Enthusiasts describe members of their workout group, book club, or even their favorite sports team as their “brothers and sisters.” These communities support each other and come together to celebrate shared wins. Bonds develop over common experiences and mutual hardships.

If these communities can be families, how much more so is our faith community? Faith is more than just an interest or passion. It is the bedrock of our lives. It is at the heart of everything else we do. Our faith empowers us to form communities where broken lives are restored.

A family of faith transcends interests or circumstances. Anyone can share in faith regardless of background, race, or social status. This is especially true in our city of Baltimore where Mass is celebrated in innumerably different diverse languages and worship styles.

This weekend, our parish is coming together to support our larger family in faith. The Annual Appeal for Catholic Ministries supports many different ministries of the Archdiocese: Catholic Charities, Catholic education, youth ministry, college campus ministry, Hispanic ministry, prison ministry, Respect Life, and so many other important programs and services. Each of these services is beyond the scope of any single parish. They can only be provided when we come together as a larger family in faith.

Nativity is already heavily invested in the work of healing our city. But there’s more to do. Join our family of faith in supporting this year’s Appeal.

The Shape of the Sermon on the Mount

Fr Jack Mahoney looks again at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel, describing how the structure of the sermon can help us to understand what Jesus wanted to tell his disciples. What are we to make of the new righteousness, which ‘exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees’, to which Jesus is calling his followers?

This article is taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website where you can find a wide range of articles by clicking here

In a previous article for Thinking Faith I discussed ‘The Meaning of the Sermon on the Mount’ (https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20080529_1.htm), and explored its background and its role in the context of St Matthew’s Gospel, which is the only place in the New Testament (Matthew 5-7) where the sermon appears. Readers may care to refresh their memories of the previous article, or read it as a preparation for this one on ‘The Shape of the Sermon on the Mount’ and a concluding one to follow entitled, ‘Living the Sermon on the Mount.’ (https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20110720_1.htm)

In ‘The Meaning of the Sermon on the Mount’, I summarised the structure of the sermon thus:

Whatever be its ecclesial provenance, from its content and inner structure Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount is evidently aimed at presenting an authoritative portrait of Christian discipleship. After a description of Jesus’s introductory healing ministry the scene is set in his ascending the hill and solemnly sitting down to address his disciples and the crowd of interested bystanders. In the opening section of his address he sketches in the Beatitudes a portrait of his followers … The main body of the sermon can then be identified as containing three sections to do with [their] relationship with God: one contrasting traditional Jewish moral teaching (of the scribes?) with new moral principles enunciated by Jesus; a second on the practice of ‘righteousness’ (Mt 6), religious and devotional practices as performed by the Pharisees, to be rejected now in favour of Christian practices; and a third section, less clearly composed than the previous two, which can be read as describing the true righteousness which is henceforth to be found and practised in the kingdom of God, and the complete trust and single-minded devotion which God’s sons and daughters are invited to manifest to their loving and protecting Father.

The sermon as a whole, then, describes what the followers of Jesus are expected to be like (5:3-16 [all references are to Matthew’s Gospel, unless otherwise stated]), and then how they are expected to behave, both in their moral lives (chapter 5), and in their spiritual and devotional lives (chapters 6 and 7). The comparisons that Jesus draws between what he is exhorting his followers to do and the ethical and devotional practices of the Jewish leaders are summarised in what is meant to be the key sentence of the whole sermon: ‘unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’ (5:20).

The Beatitudes

The opening section of the sermon is the famous passage known traditionally as the ‘Beatitudes’ (5:1-17), the word introducing each sentence in the Latin version being beatus, which means happy, or blessed, or even lucky or fortunate (macharios in the Greek). ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit… Blessed are those who mourn… Blessed are the meek… Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness… Blessed are the merciful… Blessed are the pure in heart… Blessed are the peacemakers… Blessed are those who are persecuted.’ It seems a strange list of characteristics for which people are blessed, or happy; but it actually provides a series of challenges posed by Jesus to those who wish to follow him then or later, making clear where their priorities in life should lie. If being a Christian means being poor, or downtrodden, or victimised, as Jesus was; if it involves trying to be gentle, understanding and reconciling, as Jesus himself set out to be; then Christians are all ‘blessed’, that is, fortunate, for they are imitating their Master in all these ways. They belong to God, and God is on their side: ‘theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’

The very first beatitude gives us an important clue as to what they are all pointing to. It is commonly observed that the equivalent in Luke’s Sermon on the Plain begins more simply, ‘Blessed are you who are poor’ (Luke 6:20), exemplifying Luke’s concern to show Jesus as particularly concerned for the economically poor and vulnerable in society. By contrast, Matthew writes, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’, giving Jesus’s teaching a more spiritual dimension which is consonant with the Old Testament teaching on ‘the poor of God’, the anawim, who were recognised as those who put all their trust in God and in his care for them. At the very opening of the Sermon on the Mount, then, Jesus invites all who aspire to follow him to be ‘poor in spirit’ in many ways – that is, never to be totally dependent on themselves or their worldly resources and assets, but relying always on God and on God’s love for them, whatever happens.

After welcoming his listeners by listing the blessings through which his followers can identify themselves with him, Jesus commends his disciples as ‘the salt of the earth,’ making it wholesome through their discipleship (cf. 2 Kings 2:21; Col 4:9), and as the ‘light of the world’ (5:13-16), enlightening others in their Christian witness. The commendation concludes paradoxically with a remark of great theological significance, the observation by Jesus that whatever good they do as his disciples they will in fact be doing through the power of their Father: ‘let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven’ (5:16).[1] Matthew then concludes this introductory section of the sermon by having Jesus reassure those of his disciples who have come to him from Judaism that the Mosaic Law will not be set aside in his and their ministry. On the contrary, Jesus says, he has come ‘not to abolish but to fulfil’ the law and the prophets (5:17).

Commentators differ on what Jesus’s work of ‘fulfilment,’ or bringing to completion, amounted to, mainly on whether he did this in his teaching or in his life. In fact, it appears to have been in both. The mission of Jesus shows a basic continuity and fulfilment of the history of Israel, such that the death and resurrection of Jesus bring to completion the history and divine destiny of God’s people and fulfil the prophecies foretelling the coming Messiah. Not only does Matthew’s account of the passion and death of Jesus claim prophetic warrant from the Old Testament (‘the Son of Man goes as it is written of him’ [26:24; cf Mk 9:12]); in addition, in the following main section of the sermon he has Jesus pick out salient points of the Law, Old Testament moral teaching and religious practices, and give them a fuller, authoritative interpretation and commentary of his own.

The ‘righteous’ moral teaching of the scribes?

As we have already observed, in the main body of the sermon we can see three sections which spell out the new ‘righteousness’ expected of Christian disciples in their relationship with God: first, an updating of the Ten Commandments in the light of Jesus’s moral teaching, making it quite clear that they were not being dispensed with; then, an exhortation that disciples give a new quality to their regular religious practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, which is superior to that of the Jews; and finally, a stress on the need for total trust in God throughout their life. The first section, in the remainder of Matthew 5, contains six moral antitheses, contrasting the traditional Jewish teaching of the Ten Commandments with radical moral principles enunciated by Jesus, each introduced by ‘I say to you’ (Mt 5:22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44). These go behind the letter of the commandments to the core of the external actions and behaviour which were forbidden by them, internalising morality and showing how it begins in the heart, long before the action takes place.

In addition, each new command enunciated by Jesus acts as a sort of magnet to attract other sayings by him on the subject and a point from which to expand into a mini-treatment of the topic being considered. Thus, in place of the Old Testament commandment forbidding the murder of a personal enemy (Ex 20:13), we are presented with a little treatise on anger towards others and what it can lead to, in terms of hatred, hostility and contempt (5:21-22). In addition, we are exhorted to be reconciled with anyone who has a complaint against us, even in preference to performing some act of religion (5:23-26). Again, in place of the commandment forbidding the act of adultery (Ex 20:14), we are given a discourse on interior and external chastity which has its basis ‘in the heart’ and which avoids occasions of sinful looks or contacts (5:27-30), with a corollary forbidding divorce (5:31-32).[2] Thirdly, in place of the Mosaic commandment forbidding false oaths (Ex 20:30:7), we are instructed by Jesus to avoid all taking of oaths and any circumlocutions, to simply tell the truth in all we say (5:33-37).

Finally, the Old Testament lex talionis, or legal provision for due compensation for injury in terms of ‘eye for eye, tooth for tooth’ etc. (Ex 21:24), which was probably originally aimed at keeping retribution and vendetta within bounds, is rejected by Jesus in favour of total non-resistance towards ‘an evil-doer.’ Here are to be found the famous phrases about turning the other cheek, and going the extra mile. In short, we are to be totally ungrudging to others: ‘give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you’ (5:38-42). In fact, Jesus continues, the old maxim about loving your neighbour – but being allowed to hate your enemy – is now totally subverted for his disciples as they try to live under God’s rule. The term ‘enemy’ is expelled from the Christian vocabulary, the universal rule now being to love even one’s enemies, going well beyond worldly standards (5:43-47). Later theologians and spiritual writers were to take up the following words of Jesus and remove them from their context to construct a whole spirituality and library of religious ‘perfection,’ built on the exhortation of Jesus to his followers to, ‘Be perfect [teleios], therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect’ (5:48).[3] In fact, as the ‘therefore’ confirms, he was simply instructing his disciples to take after their Father in being all-embracing – that is, non-discriminatory and non-partisan – in their love, just as God sends his weather on everyone without exception, however righteous or unrighteous they may happen to be!

The ‘righteous’ practices of the Pharisees?

Having sketched Jesus’s moral teaching for the sake of his Jewish-Christian community, Matthew now turns in chapter 6 to the religious and devotional practices which his followers should pursue as they practice their ‘righteousness’ in almsgiving, prayer and fasting, in deliberate and polemical contrast, perhaps, to the ways of the Pharisees (6:1). It is interesting to note that in the document we possess in the Didache, or ‘Teaching of the Apostles’, written slightly later than the gospels, possibly in Syria, fasting was a regular feature for Christians, but they were warned not to fast like the ‘hypocrites’ (i.e., the Jews): ‘they fast on Mondays and Thursdays, but you fast Wednesdays and Fridays’. Nor, according to the Didache, are Christians to pray as the ‘hypocrites’ do, ‘but as the Lord commanded in His gospel’, reciting the ‘Our Father’ three times a day.[4] Here in the sermon, by contrast, Matthew’s concern is that the fasting, prayer and almsgiving of Christians should indeed be different from that of the ‘hypocrites’, differing, however, not so much in quantity or time as in quality or motivation. Their devotions should not be performed ostentatiously, for show or for recognition and admiration by their fellows, but genuinely and ‘secretly’, to be known only to God, who will give all the recognition that is appropriate (6:2-18).

It is in his description of how the disciples should not in their prayer ‘heap up empty phrases’ like the Gentiles, that Matthew gives them and us his version of the ‘Our Father’, the Lord’s Prayer (6:9-13). This is not to be found in the earlier gospel of Mark, but it also occurs in Luke 11:2-4 in a very similar version, suggesting that Matthew and Luke both adopted it from Q, a shared source unused by Mark. There is debate about whether the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ is proposed as the single, formal prayer which it rapidly became, as in the Didache, or was initially a list of the topics on which Jesus instructed his disciples to focus their prayer. The phrase well known to Protestants, ‘For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen’ is found concluding the prayer in some early Greek manuscripts of Matthew and is best attested to in chapter eight of the Didache. It is not to be found, however, in the earliest Greek manuscripts of Matthew, and in modern translations it is regularly relegated to a footnote. Nor did it occur in the early Latin Vulgate version of the Bible which was officially adopted in 1546 by the Catholic Church in the Council of Trent,[5] but it did figure in the Greek manuscript that was used by the composers of the King James Bible during the Reformation in 1611. In 1969 it was introduced, perhaps ecumenically, into the Catholic celebration of the Mass to follow the Lord’s Prayer.

The superior righteousness of the Kingdom

The third section of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 6:19-7:28) is more obviously a stringing together of earlier sayings of Jesus. It can be read, however, as addressing the inadequate righteousness of the scribes’ reading of the Commandments and the inadequate righteousness of the Pharisees in their religious and devotional practices. Here are to be found the well-known sayings of Jesus about where one’s true treasure is to be found (6:19-21), the need to serve God rather than wealth (6:24) and the graphic description of how the disciples of the Kingdom are not to be worried about their future (6:25-34). What counts above all is what we have identified as the key topic of the whole Sermon, to ‘strive first for the kingdom of God and his [or its] righteousness [diakaiosune], and all these things will be given to you as well’ (6:33).

Nor, on pain of being judged similarly themselves by God, must Christians judge others or concentrate on the speck of dust in their neighbour’s eye while ignoring the beam of wood in their own (7:1-5). The puzzling injunction not to give to dogs what is holy, nor to throw pearls before swine (7:6), appears to be a warning against profaning the sacred – perhaps enjoining care about who is to be admitted to share the community’s Eucharist, as the Didache interprets it.[6] Disciples should be confident that their asking, searching and knocking for attention will all be satisfied by their Father in heaven (7:7-11), and concern recurs about their attitude to others, with the famous ‘golden rule’ added: ‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets’ (7:12).

This ethical maxim is recognised as widespread, existing in a number of variations in many of the world’s religions and philosophies; it may seem strange to find it cited here as summing up the entire treasury of Jewish religion and morality, especially since later in Matthew, Jesus identifies all the law and the prophets as hanging, not on the golden rule, but on the great commandment(s) of love of God and love of neighbour (22:36-40). The Sermon appears to be degrading the supreme moral maxim of Israel, and of Christianity, in equating it simply with the need for reciprocal respect with other people, treating them as one would have them treat oneself.Surely more needs to be said; and this has to be done in terms of filling out in what ways such mutual respect is to be expressed. If I am a drug addict, the golden rule cannot imply that I generously provide drugs for others on the grounds that I would hope they will keep me supplied also. If I am a masochist, it cannot mean that I treat others cruelly because that is how I like to be treated myself. The indispensable supposition that makes the golden rule work ethically is that I possess certain moral values and standards about how I wish to be regarded and treated by others, in terms of respect for my personal and unique dignity and of concern for my best interests; and these identify in what way I ought therefore to act towards everyone else.

As the Sermon on the Mount moves to its conclusion (Mt 7:15-27), it contains some closing warnings on how seriously it must be taken, on the need to avoid ‘false prophets’ (teaching otherwise in the community?) and on the importance of actually putting into effect Jesus’s instructions, which are daringly identified with ‘the will of my Father in heaven’ (7:21). The parable of the two houses, one surviving and one collapsing depending on their contrasting foundations, confirms the need for action and not just listening (7:24-27); and in conclusion, ‘the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes’ (7:28-29). This, if we look to the end of Matthew’s Gospel, is the ‘authority’ in heaven and earth which the risen Jesus claims he has been given, as he sends his apostles to share his teaching throughout the world, confident that Jesus will be with them ‘until the end of the age’ (Mt 28:18-20).[7]

The shape of the Sermon on the Mount, the first major teaching of Jesus at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, thus confirms its purpose as describing for the followers of Jesus who are being formed into the new people of God how they are to live and behave as they come under God’s rule and enter God’s kingdom. For centuries, the sermon has also been considered as providing the epitome of Christian morality and religious devotion. Yet many people are known to have found it difficult, if not impossible, to observe in all its requirements, with the reaction that attempts to explain it are charged with actually explaining it away! This dilemma will be explored in my final article, ‘Living the Sermon on the Mount’.

Fr Jack Mahoney SJ is Emeritus Professor of Moral and Social Theology in London University and a former Principal of Heythrop College, University of London.

[1] On how this idea was developed in John’s Gospel, see J. Mahoney, ‘The Glory of God in St John’s Gospel’, The Way, January 2011, 21-37.

[2] ‘Except on the ground of unchastity’ (5:32), on which see J. Mahoney, ‘Grounds for Divorce in St Matthew’, Thinking Faith, 25 August 2009.

[3] When I was training as a Jesuit, we were expected to become familiar with the two-volume 17th century classic by the Spanish Jesuit, Alphonsus Rodriguez, entitled The Practice of Perfection and Christian Virtues.

[4] Milavec, A., The Didache: Faith, Hope & Life of the Earliest Christian Communities, 50-70 C.E. (New York: Newman Press, 2003), chapter 8.

[5] Decree on the Vulgate Edition of the Bible, DS 1506.

[6] Didache, §9.

[7] On God’s being ‘with’ one, see J. Mahoney, ‘God with us’, Thinking Faith, 12 August 2009.

Weekly Newsletter

Thursday 20 February 2020

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Depriving the Christian faithful of their right to Word and Sacraments by Robert Mickens, Rome. February 20, 2020. This article is from the La-Croix International website - you can access the site here but complete full access is via paid subscription

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