2 Cor 9:6-11; Psalm 112:1-2, 3-4, 9; Mt 6:1-6, 16-18

God loves a cheerful giver.  I love this phrase from Corinthians, not just in its meaning for alms and good works. God doesn’t just mean that we smile when we write out a check or grin when we drop off clothes at Goodwill (thought I think that’s a good idea too.)  When I think of God loves a cheerful giver, it reminds me of finding God in all things, in our day-to-day lives -- not only when we are in church or praying or performing service. I want to be a cheerful giver among my co-workers, my neighbors, the woman at the checkout line at the grocery store.

2 Cor 8:1-9; Mt 5:43-48

“. . . love your enemies . . .”.

Almost everyone is familiar with that command. And almost everybody thinks that, while perhaps an ideal, it is hopelessly unrealistic. Maybe. But maybe some context might help us understand how central this really is to being Christian.

What, after all, does it mean to be Christian? Not to save ourselves, as perhaps we once thought. God has done that for us. No, our job is to continue the work of Jesus – the Jesus who called people to change their priorities and submit to God’s gentle reign. Christians are a community of disciples, having disciple roles, and doing disciple work.

2 Corinthians 6:1-10; Matthew 5:38-42

“Offer no resistance to injury . . . turn the other cheek.”  These phrases are among the most famous and most difficult of any which the Gospels record as coming from the lips of Jesus.  If we listen to them long enough to really hear them, before being frightened off by them, we usually hear in them an admonition to passivity in the face of conflict.

2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13; Galatians 2:16, 19-21; Luke 7:36-50.8:1-3

Then Nathan said to David: "You are the man!"

I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.

So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.

This week's liturgy is about self-awareness and gratitude. It is nearly impossible to grow without self-awareness. And it is really difficult to be a follower of Jesus without being grateful.

2 Corinthians 5:14-21; Matthew 5:33-37

Today’s first reading proclaims that very idea in asking us how we see things and what difference does it make.  If we are “in Christ,” we see things differently than we did before, because things are different.  What was once a world of mere human construction has become a world redeemed and re-created by Christ’s death and resurrection.  Indeed, “now all is new!”  For me, then, the challenge is to see my world as renewed, to see God in all things.  It is to see Him in those close to me, in friends and family.  But it is also to recognize Him in relative strangers, including the student who is cutting my class, the politician who has it wrong, and the driver dawdling along in front of me.  Nor is it enough to see the glory of Christ’s redemption in a magnificent sunset or the silken feel of a rose petal.  God is also found in a dreary sky and the weed patch next door.  It’s about seeing as believers.

Second Corinthians 4:7-15; Psalms 116:10-11, 15-16, 17-18; Matthew 5:27-32

“We have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.”
2 Corinthians 4:7

“I am your servant, the child of your handmaid..  You have loosed my bonds.”
Psalms 116:16

“But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Matthew 5:28

We are now in “Ordinary Times.”  As we read through the very familiar fifth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel though, Jesus is asking us to be anything but “ordinary.”  He tells us He has not come to abolish the Law (v. 17), indeed He calls us to go further than the written Law, the commands given to Moses.  He asks us to go beyond our overt actions and pay attention to our thoughts, our motives, and our intentions.  In today’s reading He tells us, “Do not commit adultery” not just in unfaithfulness to your spouse, but in how you deal with everyone!  You are to keep your promise to a spouse in your heart, mind and actions.  And you are to extend this same respect to your friends, to a bank, to God, to anyone, even your enemies!