Living in unforgiveness is destructive in its effects among individuals and among nations. In today’s text, Jesus presents a way to take control and master sin by offering forgiveness at every opportunity. We find an echo of this in the book of Genesis as God addresses Cain with the following…” sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is towards you, yet you can be his master” (4:7b), suggesting that we can have power over sin. Interestingly, he touches on our humanity as he teaches, “…. In our Gospel reading, Jesus speaks to those same principles of justice, mercy, and forgiveness. Yet, we keep up hope as we pray for all who suffer. On every level, we have societal breakdowns with wars raging and growing poverty, to name a few. Today, we live between cultural tensions that seem unrepairable. Saint Thomas Aquinas has said, “ To love is to will the good of the other.” Can we trust that God desires our good? That he fashioned us in secret and will love us to the end! Perhaps our society has not evolved much beyond the first audience of the book of Wisdom. Our Psalm (139) presents our privileged position as a child of God, surrounded by his Spirit-there is no escape from God’s benevolent love. That is true justice reflecting wisdom in the presence of the all-knowing, all-embracing Spirit of the Lord that fills the whole earth. The text invites us to set aside our gripes or agendas and earnestly seek the good of the other. What might it say today in the twenty-first century in navigating through current events? We are to “ love justice…to think of the Lord in goodness and to seek him in integrity of heart” (v.1). Each work attempts to offer a deeper reflection on the relationship of God and his chosen people in light of current events through the lens of Greek thinking. The cultural tensions between the Hellenistic Greeks and the Hellenistic Jews gave rise to several works known as the Wisdom Writings. At that time, challenges to orthodoxy existed from within and without the community. Written in the first century before the birth of Christ, it reflects an earnest effort to promote the Jewish faith. Our first reading from the beginning of the book of Wisdom invites us to reflect on the essence of justice and integrity in our daily lives. STUDIES IN PASSIONIST HISTORY AND SPIRITUALITY.A Day in the Life of Senior Passionists.Journey into the Mystery of Christ Crucified.Proclaiming Our Passionist Story (POPS).Passion of the Earth, Wisdom of the Cross.
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