Word to the Wise
Tuesday, June 27, 2017 - Tuesday in the 12th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 13:2, 5-18 and Matt 7:6, 12-14]TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 TUESDAY IN THE TWELFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME [Genesis 13:2, 5-18 and Matthew 7:6, 12-14] "Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets." [Matthew] Today's quotation from the gospel scripture is one of the "zingers" in the Sermon on the Mount. Popularly, it is called "the Golden Rule." I think I have recalled here my days in grade school when, at the beginning of the school year, we were each given a we inch ruler with the Golden Rule printed on it! I think that ruler may have ironically suffered uses that violated the rule! The gospel admonition is still the wisdom of the ages repeated in Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount. He says that it sums up the Law and the Prophets! As a measure of behavior, the Golden Rule can be a handy examination of conscience. Do we live according to that rule? There are some people who distort the rule by doing unto others with the expectation that the others will reciprocate in kind. That is not the meaning intended by the Sermon on the Mount. Are we quick to judgment and then resentful that we are judged? One of the difficulties of wisdom sayings like the Golden Rule is that their sheer familiarity takes the edge off their effectiveness. Keeping the Golden Rule alive in our lives not only improves things but as a matter of faith it aligns us with Jesus' own teachings. AMEN
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