Sunday word, 16 Feb 20

6th Sunday of the Year (16 Feb 2020)

Sir 15. 15-20; Ps 119; 1Co 2.6-10; Mt 5. 17-22a, 27-28, 33-34a, 37

Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J., Close of Spiritual Exercises

“Deepest Loves”

Jesus reformed torah to be more humane. For Jesus interior states are more godlike than visible actions. Wednesday we heard Jesus: from within, from the heart of a person, come evils [that] defile one.¹ Today Jesus invites “to high holiness that we have…not seen or heard about.”² We personally have received from our triune God that same invitation—as each of us needed to hear it.

The late Jesuit John Kavanaugh revealed he had received it from the same Spiritual Exercises. He noted that

The Sermon on the Mount…is an excavation into our deepest loves, so that seeing what we love most, we will finally be given our heart’s desire. But it is a harrowing trip down into the mines of our motivation.³

Christ Jesus who announced his reformed torah constantly accompanies us. We neither excavate nor journey alone. Before we part let each of us share the singular grace we received from making these Spiritual Exercises.

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1. Mark 7.21-23.
2. “The Revolution Jesus Announced,” The Word Embodied.
3. Ibid.

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Wiki-images: Sermon of the Beatitudes. PD-US