Settle with your opponent quickly
Ez 18,21-28; Ps 129; Mt 5,20-26
15 MARCH
The public life of Jesus, according to the Gospel of Matthew, is carried out on four mountains: the mountain of the Beatitudes, the high mountain of the Transfiguration, Mount Calvary and the mountain of the mission bestowed on his Apostles. On the mountain of the Beatitudes, he promulgates the new Law and manifests the will of the Father in its absolute perfection. To this perfection not even an Angel of the sky, if he wanted, could add a single codicil to improve it or make it even more perfect. Perfection is divinely complete and is eternal and unalterable over the centuries. On the high mountain of the Transfiguration Jesus reveals that his mystery is of death by crucifixion and glorious resurrection. Cross and glory are one mystery. To take possession of his kingdom he must pass through the way of the cross. On Mount Calvary he makes the blood and water that must create and make the new humanity live flow from his pierced body. If man is not immersed in the water of the Holy Spirit and is not satisfied with the blood of Christ the Lord, never will he become a new man, never might he live as a new man. On the Mount of Galilee or of the mission Jesus gives his Apostles his powers. They will have to go throughout the world and fulfil his mission. They will have to divulge the Gospel. Inviting to conversion. Baptizing believers in his Gospel in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Having created new men, they must teach them how to live as new men.
Unfortunately, this wealth of eternal life is disappearing today, because Christ is disappearing from our land due to many children of the Church who have declared him useless to salvation, as they have declared the Gospel and the Holy Spirit useless. Then, when they realize that the waters of the deluge of sin and wickedness are drowning humanity, then they run for cover by making some timid appeal to the existence of God and his divine will. They do not know that this appeal is in all similar to the appeal of a man who sees a lion chasing his prey and shouts to him that he must respect the life of the other. The lion will live as a lion because that is his nature. If they want it to eat straw, then it must be transformed into its nature. Jesus came. Today he manifests to the man who lives governed by the flesh that he must let himself be governed by the Holy Spirit and by his wisdom that always seeks peace. He must let himself be led and guided by the Spirit of humility, meekness, respect, purity of heart, mind and mouth. No foolish word will have to come out of him. Never. Today Jesus declares how the Father sees the new humanity and how it must live to become it.
I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.
It is an eternal sadness to think that today the Christian does not follow the path of Jesus. He no longer ascends the mountain of the Beatitudes to hear the promulgation of the Law of true humanity. He no longer ascends the high mountain of the Transfiguration to know that his mystery is both of Crucifixion and Resurrection, of death and life, of daily death to sin and of rebirth to new life. He does not go up on Golgotha to make his life a holocaust to the Lord, so that from it the Father can create his sons of adoption. He does not even go to Galilee to receive from Jesus the mission that he will have to live among his brothers. These four mountains must never be abandoned by the disciple of Jesus. Only one not attended and all of his Christian being fails. He lacks an essential truth of his being a disciple.
Mother of God, Angels and Saints, help us to remain true disciples without ever getting tired.