Feb. 16, 2014: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time A
One weekend while in college, I decided to volunteer for a street basketball tournament in downtown Austin. At that time, I did not know much about the game of basketball, except the difference between 2-point and 3-point play. I thought I was just going to make sure that players were hydrated, but to my shock and amazement, I was given a pad of scoring paper and a whistle. I was to be the scorekeeper and the referee for a game of 3 on 3. One team was definitely playing much more aggressively. When they realized that I didn’t call a foul on them for roughing the other team, they took advantage of my ignorance. The other team was quite angry with me for allowing all these infractions.
In sports, rules, regulations, and laws are there to ensure safety, sportsmanship, and fair competition. Although the vast majority of athletes abide by the rules and regulations, we know of high profile athletes who intentionally fly under the radar--using dishonest but legal tactics--in order to win; we feel the just anger at their unsportsmanship and unfair intent. In life, as in sports, we feel just anger when someone does not play fair, who injures us with their unjust words or actions. Anger is based upon reason, which weighs the injury done and the satisfaction to be demanded. We are seldom angry unless someone has injured us in some way — or we think he has. The anger over injury can linger with us, even to our grave. How many families have I encountered at the funeral preparation, where I can feel the thick tension formed by anger over past hurts!
Jesus addresses this anger in the Gospel today. We need to be mindful why Jesus came -- He came to open the eyes of our hearts, to call us to freedom and to true happiness. He always spoke, not to condemn, but to save us. We may feel that we are justified in holding onto our anger, which we feel is not serious, but Jesus teaches us that anger can destroy us and relationships. He calls us to remove the attitudes and actions that lead to killing and, indeed, every obstacle to unconditional love. He quotes the fifth commandment, ‘You shall not kill,’ which prohibited murder, not capital punishment or killing in war (Exod 21:12-17; Num 31:3-8). But Jesus goes beyond the letter of the law, calling people to avoid even the kind of anger and critical speech that seeks to wound another person and thus destroy relationships. It’s not enough to merely claim that we have not broken rules and regulations of the Ten Commandments; God looks at our hearts and sees how we skirt the Commandments with our subtle compromises and rationalization. Jesus desires us to fulfill the spirit of the Law, to live the Heavenly life of freedom and true happiness here on earth. There was a demonstration of living above the letter of the law this past week at an 8th Grade basketball game between Ascension and St. John Catholic School.
The rivalry between Ascension and St. John is always spirited. On this occasion, a St. John’s player was dribbling the ball to the goal. This 8th grader has mild autism. As he approached the goal, Ascension players stopped in their tracks and stood in their place, allowing the young man to shoot a basket. When it didn’t go in, an Ascension player took the rebound and passed it back to that St. John player. On his second attempt, he scored. No basketball rules and regulations were broken; what Ascension team did was fulfilling the letter of the law, through love. Everyone in the gym were deeply touched. It was a glimpse of Heaven, where everyone fulfills the letter of the law through the Spirit of love.
All of us are given the freedom to choose. Here on earth, we will have many occasions when people--even
As we approach the season of Lent and the beginning of the Divine Mercy devotion, let us begin to ponder those tendencies within us that keep us from choosing the path of love and joy.
