June 19, 2023
Monday for Wik 11 for Ordinary Time
Di Readings for Today
Saint Romuald, Abbot—Memorial Wey No Be Obligation
Listen for English
If anybody force you to serve am for one mile, follow am go two miles. Give the person wey ask you, and no turn your back on person wey wan borrow from you.” Matthew 5:41–42
As the faith of Israel dey grow over many centuries before Christ come, their understanding of how people suppose live pass through different stages. Before dem establish laws about right and wrong for the Old Testament, families dey often take serious revenge on other families when dem harm them. This one cause violence and quarrel wey no dey end. But things improve when dem establish the law of retaliation wey talk say, “When person disfigure im neighbour, wetin e do na wetin dem go do am: broken bone for broken bone, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as e disfigure another person, na so dem go disfigure am” (Leviticus 24:19–20). This na new kind of justice wey forbid revenge wey go pass the offence wey cause am. For that time, this one help stop family quarrels wey dey continue and dey get worse.
Na this law of retaliation Jesus dey talk about for our Gospel today. The new and far higher way of right living wey Jesus teach call His disciples make dem “no resist person wey dey do evil” and make dem turn the other cheek when people do them evil. Even though strict justice require make person make up for sin, Jesus’ new teaching na say mercy dey pay every debt. First, the mercy wey He give us to forgive our sins dey pay the debt of our sins when we truly repent and change. But if we want make God forgive and clear the debts wey our sins cause us to owe Am, then we must do the same for other people, without holding anything against them.
But Jesus still go further. For the passage wey we quote above, Jesus urge His disciples to show love and generosity for one new way wey different well-well from before. Na this new law about right living the children of the Kingdom of God now suppose follow. E no enough just to forgive and forget the debt wey person owe you because of im sin. Mercy now require make we “Give the person wey ask” and walk “two miles” with person wey only ask us to walk one mile with am. In other words, Christian love pass every idea of strict justice by far, and e even go beyond just forgiveness. This na truly new teaching from our Lord wey different well-well from wetin dem know before.
Think about this new law of right living for your own life. Which level of “justice” you dey mostly follow for your life? When person do you wrong, you dey live like people before the Old Testament laws, as you dey find how to pay them back with harm wey even pass the one wey dem do you? You dey follow the law wey seek equal justice of eye for eye? You dey try forgive and show mercy as payment for the debt wey another person owe because of the sin wey e commit against you? Or, as e suppose be, you dey try go beyond forgiveness and show mercy for one new and generous way wey plenty well-well? This last level of love hard to reach and practise, but na the way our Lord dey treat us, and na the way He dey call us to treat other people.
Today, reflect on any hurt wey you fit still dey struggle with. And think about how you don dey handle that hurt. As you dey try understand this new law of love and mercy wey our Lord give us, pray to Am make He give you the grace wey you need to show other people the same level of mercy wey God dey show you.
My generous Lord, You dey give Your mercy in abundance wey plenty well-well. You no just forgive us when we repent; You also restore us to one far higher level of holiness wey pass wetin we fit ever deserve. Give me the grace wey I need, dear Lord, to show this same level of mercy and love to people wey don sin against me. I forgive everybody wey don hurt me. Abeg, help me to also love them with all my heart. Jesus, na You I trust.
More Reflections on the Gospel
Reflection Dem about God im Mercy
Meditations on Scripture for Ordinary Time
Saint for Today – Saint Romuald, Abbot
