Word to the Wise
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 - Wednesday in the 10th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Cor 3:4-11 and Matt 5:17-19,985]"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." [Matthew]
JUNE 11, ST. BARNABAS, apostle
[Acts 11:21b-26, 13:1-3 and Matthew 5:17-19]
One of the continuing tensions in the western Catholic Church (the "Latin rite") has been represented in the words "continuity" and "reform." What can, or ought, to change since the Second Vatican Council? It is not a new tension! We see it in today's gospel scripture. The evangelist Matthew wrote for a Jewish-Christian community which found itself in tension with its fellow Jews over the teachings and role of Jesus Christ in the history of salvation. The "law and the prophets" represented for Jews all that God had said to them and nothing more was needed (except interpretations by certain rabbis). But Matthew presents Jesus as a "new Moses" who takes the position of a new teacher on a mountain. Jesus is at the center of all time and his coming "fulfills" all that the law and prophets were intended to prepare for. Much of what the Sermon on the Mount teaches can be found in the Mosaic Law, but there are some changes. There is "continuity" and there is "reform." This is reflected in the phrase, "You have heard that it was said....but I say to you."
In the midst of all the debate, it is important to keep our eyes on Jesus and his teaching. Much wisdom and prayer is needed to determine what is necessary to continue and what must be changed or reformed in order that the gospel and the Body of Christ can be more effectively preached throughout the world. Jesus and his teachings were rejected by the Jewish establishment, especially the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Chief Priests and the Elders of the Jerusalem Community. St. Paul and St. Barnabas eventually left them to their opposition and began to preach to the Gentiles. The rest is the history of the Church in the midst of all history. Jesus' phrase, "You have heard that it was said....but I say to you!" is a challenge to listen to the Holy Spirit which God has sent to guide us and is incarnated in the persons of Pope, Bishops and the everyday love of God and neighbor to which we are called by our baptism. Rejection of the Second Vatican Council's "reforms" by an overemphasis on "continuity" is counterproductive. AMEN.