Today’s Gospel continues Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Today’s sermon is addressed to his disciples, that is to all us Christians. His teaching is simple: Stop it! “Stop judging, that you may not be judged.” Notice that Jesus does not say, “do not judge,” but “Stop...
Today’s Gospel continues Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:28). In this Sermon Jesus gives us his authoritative teaching. “When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying…”...
Prayer is a natural part of human life. It is often an expression of our natural religiosity. Prayers that arise out of our natural religiosity tend to be petitions or an attempt on our part to force God to do what we wish or what we think would be best. Many times,...
In today’s Gospel Jesus warns against performing “righteous deeds” for human approval. We should not perform our “righteous deeds” or acts of piety with pomp or outward show to call attention to ourselves. Jesus teaches us disciples: “Take care not to perform...
Once again, we come to that part of the year where we listen to the Sermon on the Mount in the weekday readings from the Gospel. Initially God communicated with the people of Israel through the prophets and the written Law in the Old Testament. That communication was...