A sense of shame! Homily for Wednesday of the 10th week in ordinary time JUNE 2023

HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 10TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

2Cor.3:4-11; Ps.99; Matthew 5:17-19

A sense of shame!

In the gospel reading of today, Jesus remarked that he has not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfil them. This means that in Jesus we shall not find a relaxation of any of the commandments. Jesus rather comes to help us understand the Spirit of the law so that our adherence to the commandments will bring us to the level of love. In the first reading, St. Paul noted that the written code kills but the Spirit gives life. By written code, St. Paul was referring to a regimented adherence to the commandments; a kind of obedience that brings us to a destination of hypocrisy or a holier-than-thou attitude. Jesus is God, and so in Jesus, we come to understand the Spirit of the law. In sum, Jesus teaches us how best to obey the law so that we become persons of love.

Jesus also wants us to be teachers of the law. If we cannot teach others how best to keep the law, Jesus warns that we should not dare to teach the reverse, namely, how not to obey the law. More often than not, when we find it very challenging to keep a number of the commandments, we create excuses that will make us feel justified in disobeying the law. But the problem becomes greater when we try to extend this justification to others who may also be having same challenge. For example, someone who struggles with the weakness of watching pornography, gives in to it by excusing himself that there is no big deal with it. Should he/she encounter another who has the same weakness, he/she tries to convince the person not to feel bad about watching pornography with the excuse that: it is a normal thing; everybody is doing it; whoever is not doing it, is doing something worse, etc. This is the kind of negative teaching that Jesus warns against in today’s gospel.

No matter how badly you may be struggling with a weakness; even if you decide to give up on yourself, still try to maintain the awareness that that weakness is not something to be proud of; it’s not something you should bring others into. To be weak and be trying to lure others into the weakness is simply witchcraft. Condemn evil/sin even when you are involved; at least, it helps you to maintain a sense of shame in that weakness. To loose the sense of shame is a great form of self-destruction because the sense of shame has the capacity to continually make us uncomfortable in our weakness. With such discomfort, we stand the great chance of overcoming of our weaknesses someday. No matter how weak you are, do not become the devil’s advocate.