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the gospel of Matthew[1]
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In
the “Sermon on the Mount” the theme of righteousness is prominent, and even at
this early stage of the ministry the note of opposition is struck between Jesus
and the Pharisees, who are designated as “the hypocrites. The righteousness of
his disciples must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees; otherwise, in
spite of their alleged following of Jesus, they will not enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Righteousness means doing the will of the heavenly Father, and his
will is proclaimed in a manner that is startling to all who have identified it
with the Law of Moses. Jesus’ claimed that he has come not to abolish but to
fulfill the law. What is meant by fulfillment of the law is not the demand to
keep it exactly as it stood before the coming of Jesus, but rather his bringing
the law to be a lasting expression of the will of God, and in that fulfillment
there is much that will pass away. Should this appear contradictory to his
saying that “until heaven and earth pass away” not even the smallest part of
the law will pass, that time of fulfillment is not the dissolution of the
universe but the coming of the new age, which will occur with Jesus’ death and
resurrection. While righteousness in the new age will continue to mean conduct
that is in accordance with the law, it will be conduct in accordance with the
law as expounded and interpreted by Jesus, “…all that I have commanded you”). Though
Jesus speaks harshly about the Pharisees in the Sermon, his judgment is not
solely a condemnation of them. The Pharisees are portrayed as a negative
example for his disciples, and his condemnation of those who claim to belong to
him while disobeying his word is no less severe. The Sermon on the Mount is
composed principally of accounts of those merciful deeds of Jesus, but it is
far from being simply a collection of stories about miraculous cures.
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The
nature of the community that Jesus will establish is shown; it will always be
under the protection of him whose power can deal with all dangers, but it is
only for those who are prepared to follow him at whatever cost, not only
believing Israelites but Gentiles who have come to faith in him. The disciples
begin to have some insight, however imperfect, into the mystery of Jesus’
person. They wonder about him whom “the winds and the sea obey, and they
witness his bold declaration of the forgiveness of the paralytic’s sins. That
episode of the narrative moves on two levels. When the crowd sees the cure that
testifies to the authority of Jesus, the Son of Man, to forgive sins, they
glorify God “who had given such authority to human beings. The forgiveness of
sins is now not the prerogative of Jesus alone but of “human beings,” that is,
of the disciples who constitute the community of Jesus, the church. The end of
the section prepares for the discourse on the church’s mission. Jesus is moved
to pity at the sight of the crowds who are like sheep without a shepherd, and
he sends out the twelve disciples to make the proclamation with which his own
ministry began, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand, and to drive out demons and
cure the sick as he has done. Their mission is limited to Israel as Jesus’ own
was, yet in Mt 15:16
that perspective broadens and the discourse begins to speak of the mission that
the disciples will have after the resurrection and of the severe persecution
that will attend it. Matthew deals with
the growing opposition to Jesus and Hostility toward him, but it becomes more
intense. The rejection of Jesus comes, as before, from Pharisees, who take
“counsel against him to put him to death” and repeat their earlier accusation
that he drives out demons because he is in league with demonic power. But they
are not alone in their rejection. Jesus complains of the lack of faith of “this
generation” of Israelites and reproaches the towns “where most of his mighty
deeds had been done” for not heeding his call to repentance. This dark picture
is relieved by Jesus’ praise of the Father who has enabled “the childlike” to
accept him, but on the whole the story is one of opposition to his word and
blindness to the meaning of his deeds. The whole section ends with his
declaring that not even the most intimate blood relationship with him counts
for anything; his only true relatives are those who do the will of his heavenly
Father. The narrative of rejection leads up to the parables.
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The
reason given for Jesus’ speaking to the crowds in parables is that they have
hardened themselves against his clear teaching, unlike the disciples to whom
knowledge of “the mysteries of the kingdom has been granted”and he dismisses
the crowds and continues the discourse to his disciples alone, who claim, at
the end, to have understood all that he has said. But, lest the impression be
given that the church of Jesus is made up only of true disciples, the
explanation of the parable of the weeds among the wheat, as well as the parable
of the net thrown into the sea “which collects fish of every kind, shows that
it is composed of both the righteous and the wicked, and that separation
between the two will be made only at the time of the final judgment. Jesus is
shown preparing for the establishment of his church with its teaching authority
that will supplant the blind guidance of the Pharisees, whose teaching,
curiously said to be that of the Sadducees also, is repudiated by Jesus as the
norm for his disciples.
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The
church of Jesus will be built on Peter, who will be given authority to bind and
loose on earth, an authority whose exercise will be confirmed in heaven. The
metaphor of binding and loosing has a variety of meanings, among them that of
giving authoritative teaching. This promise is made to Peter directly after he
has confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of the living God, a confession
that he has made as the result of revelation given to him by the heavenly
Father; Matthew’s ecclesiology is based on his high Christology. Directly after
that confession Jesus begins to instruct his disciples about how he must go the
way of suffering and death. Peter, who has been praised for his confession,
protests against this and receives from Jesus the sharpest of rebukes for
attempting to deflect Jesus from his God-appointed destiny. The future rock
upon whom the church will be built is still a man of “little faith. Both he and
the other disciples must know not
only that Jesus will have to suffer and die but that they too will have to
follow him on the way of the cross if they are truly to be his disciples. They must care for one another and guard each
other’s faith in Jesus, to seeking out those who have wandered from the fold,
and to repeated forgiving of their fellow disciples who have offended them. But
there is also the obligation to correct the sinful fellow Christian and, should
one refuse to be corrected, separation from the community is demanded. Jesus
and his disciples depart from Galilee for Jerusalem. In the course of their
journey Jesus for the third time predicts the passion that awaits him at
Jerusalem and also his resurrection. At his entrance into the city he is hailed
as the Son of David by the crowds accompanying him. He cleanses the temple, and
in the few days of his Jerusalem ministry he engages in a series of
controversies with the Jewish religious leaders, meanwhile speaking parables
against them, against all those Israelites who have rejected God’s invitation
to the messianic banquet, and against all, Jew and Gentile, who have accepted
but have shown themselves unworthy of it. Once again, the perspective of the
evangelist includes not only the time of Jesus’ ministry but that of the
preaching of the gospel after his resurrection.
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The
narrative culminates in Jesus’ denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees,
reflecting not only his own opposition to them but that of Matthew’s church,
and in Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem. The last of the great structural
discourses of the gospel, Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple and his
own final coming. The time of the latter is unknown, and the disciples are
exhorted in various parables to live in readiness for it, a readiness that
entails faithful attention to the duties of the interim period. The coming of
Jesus will bring with it the great judgment by which the everlasting destiny of
all will be determined. The story of Jesus’ passion and resurrection, the
climax of the gospel, throws light on all that has preceded. In Matthew
“righteousness” means both the faithful response to the will of God demanded of
all to whom that will is announced and also the saving activity of God for his
people. In Jesus’ absolute faithfulness to the Father’s will that he drink the
cup of suffering, the incomparable model for Christian obedience is given; in
his death “for the forgiveness of sins”, the saving power of God is manifested
as never before. Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus in his passion combines both the
majestic serenity of the obedient Son who goes his destined way in fulfillment
of the scriptures, confident of his ultimate vindication by God, and the depths
of fear and abandonment that he feels in face of death. These two aspects are
expressed by an Old Testament theme that occurs often in the narrative, i.e.,
the portrait of the suffering Righteous One who complains to God in his misery,
but is certain of eventual deliverance from his terrible ordeal. The
passion-resurrection of God’s Son means nothing less than the turn of the ages,
a new stage of history, the coming of the Son of Man in his kingdom. That is
the sense of the apocalyptic signs that accompany Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Although the old age continues, as it will until the manifestation of Jesus’
triumph at his second coming, the final age has now begun. This is known only
to those who have seen the Risen One and to those, both Jews and Gentiles, who
have believed in their announcement of Jesus’ triumph and have themselves
become his disciples. To them he is constantly, though invisibly, present,
verifying the name Emmanuel, “God is with us”.
MAY 11 Ascension
Friday
Matthew,
Chapter 1, verse 19-20:
19
Joseph her
husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly. 20
Such was his intention when,
behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son
of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it
is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.
Even righteous people become afraid at times but
Mark Shea a catholic writer points out that Joseph being a devote Jew may have
had Holy fear as the basis of his being afraid.
”Modernity assumes it was because he thought her guilty of adultery,
but the typical view in antiquity understood the text to mean he was afraid of
her sanctity — as a pious Jew would be afraid to touch the Ark of the Covenant.
After all, think of what Mary told him about the angel's words: "The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the Child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God."[2]
We should follow the example of Joseph and be not afraid
to take Mary into our home!
I know one small way I have taken Mary in my home
is to silently say a Hail Mary when I wash my hands to eat-praying,
“Mary help me not to
wash your son’s blood from my hands as Pilot did. Help me to have no innocent
blood on my hands. Let me not wash off responsibility for others.”
The
novena in honor of the Holy Spirit is the oldest of all novenas since it was
first made at the direction of Our Lord Himself when He sent His apostles back
to Jerusalem to await the coming of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost. It
is still the only novena officially prescribed by the Church. Addressed to the
Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, it is a powerful plea for the light and
strength and love so sorely needed by every Christian.
On
the day of Ascension our Lord went to the Father. The disciples were
heartbroken but He promised them that He would send the Holy Spirit (Novena to the Holy
Spirit) saying it is better for us that He leave us so we may receive power
from on high. The first gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of Holy fear; to
respond to God’s love as a son or daughter rather than a servant.
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
On
my knees before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses, I offer myself, soul
and body to You, Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Your purity,
the unerring keenness of Your justice, and the might of Your love. You are the
Strength and Light of my soul. In You I live and move and am. I desire never to
grieve You by unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with all my heart to be kept
from the smallest sin against You. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant
that I may always watch for Your light, and listen to Your voice, and follow
Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You,
by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of
Jesus and looking at His Five Wounds, and trusting in His Precious Blood and
adoring His opened Side and stricken Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit,
Helper of my infirmity, to keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against
You. Give me grace, O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to
You always and everywhere, "Speak Lord for Your servant heareth."
Amen.
To be recited daily during the Novena
Prayer for The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit
To be recited daily during the Novena
Prayer for The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit
O
Lord Jesus Christ, Who, before ascending into heaven, did promise to send the
Holy Spirit to finish Your work in the souls of Your Apostles and Disciples,
deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me that He may perfect in my soul, the
work of Your grace and Your love. Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom that I may
despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things
that are eternal, the Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my mind with the
light of Your divine truth, the Spirit of Counsel that I may ever choose the
surest way of pleasing God and gaining heaven, the Spirit of Fortitude that I
may bear my cross with You and that I may overcome with courage all the
obstacles that oppose my salvation, the Spirit of Knowledge that I may know God
and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the Saints, the Spirit of
Piety that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable, and the Spirit of
Fear that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in
any way to displease Him. Mark me, dear Lord, with the sign of Your true
disciples and animate me in all things with Your Spirit. Amen.
(To be recited daily during the Novena)
(To be recited daily during the Novena)
(Friday, 6th Week of Easter)
Holy
Spirit! Lord of Light! From Your clear celestial height, Your pure beaming
radiance give!
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit
Prayer
Almighty and eternal God, Who hast vouchsafed to regenerate us by water and the Holy Spirit, and hast given us forgiveness all sins, vouchsafe to send forth from heaven upon us your sevenfold Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and fortitude, the Spirit of Knowledge and Piety, and fill us with the Spirit of Holy Fear. Amen.
Our
Father and Hail Mary ONCE.
Glory be to the Father SEVEN TIMES.
Daily Devotions
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Please
pray for me and this ministry
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