ELEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Tuesday

Year II

Readings

First Reading
1 Kgs 21:17–29

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 51:3–4, 5–6ab, 11 and 16

Gospel
Mt 5:43–48

Meditation on Today’s Readings

Taken from the Vatican II Sunday and Weekday Missal
Written by Celia Sirois

The “law of retaliation” fully operates in today’s reading from 1 Kings. God sends Elijah to confront and condemn Ahab for the murder of Naboth. Ahab will suffer the same fate as Naboth, even to the goriest detail. Yet sincere repentance wins Ahab a reprieve. The destruction of his house is postponed to the next generation. Thus do we see that the God of Israel is indeed the God of Jesus, the heavenly Father who makes the sun to rise and the rain to fall on the bad and the good, the just and the unjust. This is the “wealth of generosity” that Paul wants to inspire in the Corinthian community as well. To that end, he holds up the example of the churches of Macedonia whose generous donation to the collection spills over from their total self-donation to God.

Totality is the key to the last verse of the Gospel reading, which tells us to be perfect, “as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The Hebrew Bible never describes God as “perfect.” The word here points rather to God’s wholeness revealed in his surpassing and sometimes surprising generosity. It is this we are called to imitate.

The copyright for the Sunday Missal Introductions is:
Copyright (c) 2001, Daughters of St. Paul
The copyright for the Weekday Missal Introduction is:
Copyright (c) 2002, Daughters of St. Paul