Morning Voice

February 19, 2023. Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – A. Readings: Lv 19:1-2, 17-18; Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13; 1Cor 3:16-23; Mt 5:38-48. “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father…” A Yiddish proverb says: “Love your neighbor, even if he plays the trombone.” And a Native American Shawnee proverb adds: “Do not hurt your neighbor, for it is not him you wrong but yourself.” Everything we do in life has a measure and a model, and it is aimed at a goal. So too, love has its measure, model, and goal. The measure of genuine love is oneself. Its model is the Lord Jesus. And its goal is our salvation. No one can give others the love he or she does not have for oneself and in oneself. We can only love others if we first love ourselves. It is not about selfishness but a basic moral, natural, and human truth. Empty hands can only give emptiness, that is, nothing. As says the Ivorian proverb, "The most

February 12, 2023. Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – A. Readings: Sir 15:15-20; Ps 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34; 1 Cor2:6-10; Mt 5:17-37. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Mt 5:17 A German proverb says: “Many people preach righteousness and perform sins.” And a Chinese proverb adds: “If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in character. If there is beauty in character, there will be harmony in the home. If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation…” There is a joke saying that no one can pretend to be more Catholic than the Pope, or more Christian than Christ. Righteousness has a source and a summit. God is the fount of all holiness, and so the par excellence source of righteousness. Our vocation, we said last Sunday, is to become holy as Christ our Lord is holy. And this is a road we daily journey. In this journey, however, there is a great risk of getting the w