Our light flies in the face of the world's depravity

Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Feb. 13, 2011
Fr. Peter Armenio
Gospel: Matt. 5:17-37 Your righteousness must surpass that of the Scribes and Pharisees
(sorry, no audio)

Summary: In today”s Gospel, Jesus fulfills and perfects the law of Moses on Mt. Sinai. He doesn”t say this for a select few. We have the grace of God to approach these high standards. Christians” lives fly in the face of the world”s sensuality, violence, and skepticism. Jesus tells us to be a light to the world. He tells us that Christians will change the world, the environment in which we live.

Saint Francis de Sales’ “little virtues” of gentleness, kindness, humility, and cheerful optimism shape the monastic life of the Visitation Sisters. Consider a life of prayer and teaching. Washington, DC.

At World Youth Day in 1993, Pope John Paul II was approached by a young woman who was a delegate from Chicago. She was ready to reproach him, since she took exception to certain Church teachings surrounding the issue of chastity. She was going to express her disfavor because she could not understand how the Pope could impose old school Polish values on Americans, and American youth. And yet, as she stood in line, she instead burst into tears and hugged the Pope and said she loved him.

Soon afterwords, she told a reporter that she had undergone a conversion because of the look of Pope John Paul II.

We have to love everyone, even that selfish person at work. We have to be transparent in everything we say. We need to be close to the source, to Jesus Christ, for example, in the Eucharist. We must make a daily examination of conscience, referring to the Sermon on the Mount.

“May my love of God rise above that of the Pharisees. Then I will start to become a light of the world.”