Sunday, 7 June 2026
Monday, June 8, 2026 - Do any of the beatitudes apply to you? Will you strive to make at least two applicable to yourself today?
To read the texts click on the texts: 1 Kgs 17:1-6; Mt 5:1-12
Beginning today, the
gospel reading will be from the Gospel of Matthew except on feasts or special
occasions. The Church begins from Chapter 5 of Matthew. The three chapters
beginning from 5:1 and ending at 7:29 contain one of the most famous discourses
of Matthew known as “The Sermon on the Mount”.
Since we will be reading
this Sermon for almost three whole weeks on weekdays, it is important to have
some background of what the Sermon is about.
The first point that we
note is that this is the first of the five great discourses in the Gospel of
Matthew. Each of these five ends with the phrase, “and when Jesus had
finished…” (7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1). It begins by showing Jesus as a
Rabbi teaching ex-cathedra (5:1) and ends by showing Jesus as the Messianic
prophet addressing the crowds (7:28).
The second point that
must be kept in mind is that the Sermon is a composition of Matthew. An
analysis of similar texts in the Gospels of Mark and Luke indicate that many
verses found here in Matthew are found in Mark and Luke in different contexts.
This does not mean that Jesus did not say these words. It means that Matthew
has put them together in this manner
The third point is the
theme, which will determine how one will interpret the Sermon as a whole. Most
are agreed that the theme of the Sermon is found in 5:17-20, in which Jesus
speaks about having come not to abolish but to fulfil the Law and Prophets, and
issues a challenge to those listening to let their “righteousness” be greater
than that of the scribes and Pharisees in order to enter the kingdom.
Today’s text contains
what is commonly known as the “Introduction” to the Sermon and contains the
Beatitudes, which are the communication of a blessing. The mountain is a
“theological topos” in the Gospel of Matthew (Luke’s Sermon is from “a level
place cf Lk 6:17) and therefore means much more than simply a geographical
location. Matthew does not name the mountain, but by choosing it as the place
from where Jesus delivers the Sermon, he probably wants to portray Jesus as the
New Moses delivering the New Law from a New Mountain. While Jesus in the Gospel
of Luke “stands” and delivers the Sermon (Lk 6:17), in Matthew, Jesus sits
down. This is the posture that the Jewish Rabbis adopted when communicating a
teaching of importance or connected with the Law. In Luke the crowd is
addressed from the beginning of the Sermon and addressed directly, “Blessed are
you poor…” (Lk 6:20), but in Matthew, it is the “disciples” who come to Jesus
and whom he begins to teach. The address is indirect, “Blessed are the poor in
spirit” (5:3). While Luke has four beatitudes with four corresponding “Woes”;
Matthew has seven plus an additional beatitude, with no corresponding woes. The
reason why the “eight” is called an additional beatitude is because the first
and the seventh both end with the phrase “theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
forming what is known as an inclusion. Beatitude is an expression of
congratulations, which recognises an existing state of happiness. While the
rewards described in the first and seventh beatitudes are in the present tense,
they are in the future tense in the other five beatitudes. The sense is that it
is God himself who will do all of this for them. By choosing to bless the
disadvantaged, the Matthean Jesus indicates the thrust of his mission, which is
primarily a mission to the disadvantaged.
Saturday, 6 June 2026
Sunday, June 7, 2026 - The Feast of Corpus Christi - The Body and Blood of Christ
To read the texts click on the texts: Deut 8:2-3, 14-16; 1 Cor 10:16-17; Jn6:51-58
A
team of Russians and Americans were on a common expedition. Among their cabin
foodstuff was Russian black bread. It was tasty but hard on the teeth. During a
meal an American bit into a piece and snapped a tooth. He threw the bread
overboard and growled: “Lousy Communist bread.” The Russian countered: “It is
not lousy communist bread, but a shaky capitalist tooth.” Some of us may
complain in a similar manner about the Eucharist being useless. However, if we
do not experience the transforming power of the Eucharist it is not on account
of the Eucharist but on account of our shaky faith and lack of understanding of
what the Eucharist really means
The
feast of Corpus Christi is usually thought to be the feast of the Eucharist and
while this is certainly true, it would be a mistake to restrict the
understanding of the feast to the ritual of the Eucharist. The feast goes
beyond the ritual to life itself, just as the Eucharist does.
The
Eucharist is both a sacrament and a sacrifice. The Eucharist is a sacrament, an
outward sign in and through which we meet Christ who shares his life of grace
with us. Through signs of bread and wine he nourishes and strengthens us for
our journey through life. We see with human eyes what looks like bread and
wine. We see with eyes of faith, not bread and wine, but the risen, living Lord
Jesus.
The
Eucharist is a sacrifice, the representation or reliving of Christ’s
sacrificial death on Good Friday and of his Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
The
scripture readings today stress how God made a covenant with His people, first
through Moses and then, finally and forever, through Christ, a covenant sealed
and ratified by his blood. This covenant or bond of love between God and us is
renewed and deepened through and in every Eucharist or Mass.
The
second reading today, from Paul, is the earliest recorded story of anything
Jesus did. And that earliest story is about a meal, the Last Supper, which
Jesus shared with his disciples. In a very particular way, he made that meal a
way to remember him. It brings forward his sacrifice and death and
resurrection, his fellowship and unity with us, and everything he taught us.
And he did not want his followers to eat it just once that night but to do it
again and again, so that we continue to remember.
St
Augustine often stressed to his parishioners a unique quality of the
Eucharistic food. The ordinary food we eat, he says, becomes part of us. We are
what we eat. But partaking of the Eucharist, we become part of Jesus, We become
more Christ like, more patient and kind, more forgiving and understanding. We
still live our ordinary daily lives, but it is Our Lord who inspires our
attitudes and actions. We begin to see
people and events through his eyes, to think as he did. When Jesus was on this
earth, he used his own hands to reach out to people, but when he wants to feed
the poor today, he uses my hands, your hands to do this.
Surely,
we hunger and thirst for something new, when we share in the grief, anger,
misery and neglect of the impoverished, the unjustly accused, and victims of
violence caused by religious intolerance, ethnic hatred, terrorism and racism.
We are hungry indeed for peace and thirsty for reconciliation in this our
troubled world. We are hungry and thirsty for a new world, a world where we
will look one another in the eye and recognize the kinship of sisters and
brothers who are all children of God. The promise of this new world is set
forth in the strongest possible terms when Jesus declares, “Those who eat my
flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them…”
This
feast, then, of the Body of Christ, sums up three important confessions of our
faith. First, and most important, God became physically present in the person
of Christ – true God and true Man. Secondly; God continues to be present in His
people as they form the Mystical Body of Christ in his Church. And, thirdly,
God becomes present in the form of bread and wine on the altar at Mass.
Eucharist, then, should not remain simply a “going to” or “taking of” that
begins and ends in the sanctuary. It should become the deepest expression of
our communion with Christ.
Friday, 5 June 2026
Saturday, June 6, 2026 - How often in a day do you let the opinion of others affect your behaviour? What will you do about it today?
To read the texts click on the texts:Tobit 12:1,5-15,20; Mk 12:38-44
There
are two parts to the text of today. The first deals with the condemnation of
the scribes (12,38-40) and the second the commendation of a widow (12,41-44).
The
charge against the scribes is that they have no concern for anyone except
themselves. This lack of concern is shown in the behaviour they exhibited.
Their words do not correspond to their actions and they do what they do only
for external show.
Since
one of the charges against the scribes was that they devour widows’ houses, the
second part of the text speaks about a poor widow. The widow unlike the scribes
has no concern for self and this is shown in her willingness to give everything
to God. She is what she does.
So
many of us live our lives based on the opinion of others. We want others to
think well of us and will often act in such a way that meets their approval.
There are also times when we may not be convinced of something and yet would do
it only because we want to show externally that we are “part of the crowd”.
When we behave in this manner we are imitating the scribes.
Thursday, 4 June 2026
Friday, June 5, 2026 - How do you usually address Jesus? Why do you use this title?
To read the texts click on the texts:Tobit 11:5-17; Mk 12:35-37
Since
Mark ended the previous episode by stating that after the scribes question and
Jesus’ response no one dared to ask Jesus any question, he has Jesus himself
ask the question about the Messiah as Son of David. In his interpretation of Ps
110,1 attributed to David, the Messiah is called Lord. If this is what David
says, then the Messiah cannot be also his son. Mark’s point is that the title
son of David is an inadequate title to describe who the Messiah really is.
Jesus
cannot be captured by titles or names. He is much bigger than any name that we
might use for him. And while we may know many things about him, his life and
mission, we need to make every attempt to KNOW him.
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Thursday, June 4, 2026 - Will your love for God show in your love for at least one person today?
To read the texts click on the texts: 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Mk 12:28-34
While in Matthew 22,35,
the lawyer asks Jesus the question about the great commandment in order to test
Jesus; in Mark he is not hostile. As a matter of fact Mark mentions at the
beginning of the incident that he thought that Jesus had answered the Sadducees
well and at the end he commends Jesus for his answer. Jesus responds in the
words of the “Shema”, which speaks of love of God (Deut 6,5-6), but adds also
the love of neighbour (Lev 19,18). The scribe’s response to this is to
acknowledge Jesus’ answer as correct and to add that following these
commandments is greater than sacrifices and burnt offerings. Jesus concludes
the dialogue by stating that because the scribe has recognised what his
priorities are, he is not far from the kingdom of God.
Love of God cannot really
be separated from love of neighbour. The two go together. Our love for God is
made manifest and tangible only when we reach out in love to someone else.
While Paul gives a beautiful description of what love is and what it is not in
1 Corinthians 13, my own definition of love is that in love there is no “I”.
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