7 Sunday in

th

Ordinary Time
Lev. 19:2,17-18
Cycle AI Cor. 3:16-23 19 February 2017
Mt. 5:38-48
INTRODUCTION:

What magnificent readings

we have this Sunday:
all three (3) of them!
Each of them speaks
about HOLINESS as the
central theme!
1

a book around 1250 BC with lots of legal, liturgical,

and somewhat "fussy" prescriptions from
priests and Levites, says
"Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am
holy."
1

is all of spiritual life in the Bible;

everything else is commentary!
Prayer, moral life, liturgy,
etc. is meant to put
holiness in our hearts.
1 In the Old
Testament, holy is
Kadosh, meaning
"set apart."

God in his nature is other

than the created world
but also other than the
wickedness that is in the
world.
1

HOLINESS
thus is the
Divine Life in us
and is essentially
a matter of
LOVE.
1
In our love,
we are set apart;

in our love, we
are like God.
1 Leviticus specifies LOVE thus:

"You shall not bear hatred for your

brother or sister in your heart
(Huwag kang
magtanim ng galit sa iyong puso)...
1 Leviticus specifies LOVE thus:

Take no revenge or cherish no grudge

against any of your people. You shall
LOVE your neighbor as yourself.
(Huwag kang maghiganti o magtanim ng
sama ng loob sa inyong kababayan, kundi mahalin ninyo
ang inyong kapwa tulad ng iyong sarili.)
1
"In the
evening of our
life, we are
going to be
judged by
love."
St. John of the Cross
2 JESUS SERMON ON THE MOUNT
in Mt. 5 (around 30-33 AD)
defines what LOVE is.

It is willing the good of the

other as other for his own sake
whether a friend or an enemy.
2

God does not love only the

saints who give love in return
but those sinners alike who
give nothing in return.
2 To have this Divine Life in us is to

LOVE WITH A DIVINE INDIFFERENCE

"making the sun rise on the bad and on the good"
(pinasisikat niya ang araw sa kapwa masama at mabuti)
and
"causing rain to fall on the just and the unjust."
(pinapapatak niya ang ulan sa kapwa makatarungan at
di- makatarungan.)
2 What a revolution this is!

Think how different life

would be were we to love
this way all the time,
rather than measuring
out or calculating our
LOVE based on selfish
interests or on merit.
2
"For if you love/greet those who love/greet you,
What recompense will you have? What is unusual about that?
Do not tax collectors/sinners/pagans do the same?
So be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect."

Kung mahal (binabati) ninyo ang nagmamahal (bumabati) sa inyo,

Bakit kayo gagantimpalaan? (Ano ang naiiba rito?)
Di bat ginagawa rin ito ng mga kolektor ng buwis (ng mga pagano)?
Kaya maging ganap kayo gaya ng pagiging ganap ng
inyong Amang nasa langit.
3 ST. PAUL in I Cor. 3 (around 69/70 AD)
uses a metaphor of great significance:

"Don't you know

that you are the
Temple of God and
the Spirit of God
dwells in you?"
3

Paul, when he was

young Saul from
Tarsus, studied in
Jerusalem and
moved about
familiarly in the
Temple.
3

He reminds his
little Christians in
Corinth that they
are the Temple
where God is
rightly praised.
3 Everything in us --
our mind, our
passion, our
friendship, our loves,
etc. -- is to be turned
to love, must be
willing the good of the
other in the way of
Divine Indifference
described above by
Jesus.
3

This makes us truly holy,

truly set apart, truly a
Temple/Sanctuary!
 CONCLUSION:

Dedicate your whole life to LOVE

and you will be HOLY,
SET APART like God,
and a Temple/Sanctuary!
+ART