Collect for Seventh Sunday Ordinary Time

 

COLLECT SERIES

 

The Mass: Collect Series Icon.

COLLECT

 

The Collect for Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C reads as follows:

Grant, we pray, almighty God,

that, always pondering spiritual things,

we may carry out in both word and deed

that which is pleasing to you

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever.

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What are the spiritual questions/ confusions/uncertainties that I currently have? Make a list.

2. If you do not have any spiritual questions/confusions/uncertainties right now, then make a list of areas that you would like to know more for spiritual growth.

3. Word and deed come from the heart and flow from what is in our hearts. What words and deeds will we carry out this coming week that will be pleasing to God.

4. What one area in my life will I try to improve through the power of God’s grace this week?

5. Spend some time with Jesus and ask Him to show you what you need to do this coming Lent to become a pleasing dwelling for Him this Easter.

 

 

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Today’s Gospel is from Lk 6:27-38.  It is a continuation of the Beatitudes.  It is important to realise that in the time of Jesus that when some one did wrong to another person there was retaliation, retribution, payback.  Scripture says ‘ an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’.  The punishment and the crime were as if they were measured. A person payed back with a punishment that fitted the crime/hurt.

So when Jesus taught to Love One Enemies and do good to those who hurt you it would have been shocking to hear.  It also needs to be shocking for us to hear because we too, in a sophisticated and ungodly way can pay back and retaliate by the way we act and in what we say.

Forgiveness is indeed a process and it does not happen by our own means overnight.  However, what Jesus offers us is  a way forward to being at right with our neigbour.  There are some relationships that are toxic and we need the grace to move away. God never expects us to be a human doormat either.  However, when someone does us wrong and we are hurt   we need to pray for that person that they actually come to realise the wrong that they have done and are given the grace to repent. 

When there are situations where a person is badly hurt and the other party does not say sorry, it can be salt into the wound.  In this case, it is even more important to be honest with God with our feelings and ask for healing for these wounds.  It is a great opportunity to delve deeper with Jesus to see whether we have responded from a place of a past wound/past experience and that is why we have reacted to this current situation in this way.  It is also a great opportunity to put this teaching of Jesus into practice by praying for the other party.  We all enter into the process of forgiveness in our own way.  We need to draw close to Jesus the healer and be open to the Holy Spirit as we explore in God’s presence how the current hurt is affecting me.  We need to check that it does not lead us into greater sin such as anger, resentment, unforgiveness. If and when it does, we need to talk to our spiritual director/confessor in Sacrament of Reconciliation and ask advice in the areas of struggle.  We need to repent of our own sins, our own failures, and ask Jesus to forgive us.  We need to remember the words of the Our Father too.

We need also to remember that Jesus said on the cross’ Father, forgive them’ they do not know what they do’.  Jesus suffered the greatest betrayal, the worse possible suffering and yet before He died hanging on the cross, He forgave them- He forgave humanity.

Perhaps our enemy can also be ourselves. We need to ask God to come into our deepest part of our being and heal the wounds we inflict on our own selves. Loving our self in a healthy Godly way can also be a challenge. Yet we are called to love our selves too in the commandment of love.

There is a lot to ponder in this Gospel. If you are at peace with loving your enemies and praying for those who treat you badly, then thank God for that grace.  You may wish to focus in your reflection time on some other phrase or attitude that Jesus calls you to in this Gospel.

 

May Jesus lead you further along the path of Holiness this coming week.