Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

In Sunday's Gospel we continued the Sermon on the mount with Matthew 5.38-48. A manifesto to wage peace? I could not help but think that this photo from Tiananmen square gets to the heart of what Our Lord calls us to. As the baptism service asks each candidate: Do you reject evil. I reject evil.

To reject evil, to follow Christ, means actively working for peace and justice through non-violence. It is costly, it is another example of the via crucis.

It's never easy but...

Today's Gospel is hard in every way, Matthew 5.17-37 a passage that one commentator optimistically described as 'Jesus sets new standards of goodness.' It's hard to read, hard to listen to and can feel almost impossible to live out. Layers of cultural and hermeneutical unpacking could be indulged in, but with an 8 to 10 minute homily slot you are not going to get very far. After trying three variants on a common theme at today's three Eucharists I am exhausted. Though at the heart of the matter is challenge by Our Lord to walk with Him the via crucis, yes we can have right belief and even right action but God goes deeper, what are our intentions, our desires, and are they of God? We need to orientate the whole of our lives on God, seen in Jesus Christ, our will, intellect and spirit. We need to develop the virtuous and the good. It all sounds so easy in a homily but it's the living out of the via crucis that can literally be a killer!

Light and Salt

In today's gospel Our Lord reminds us that we cannot have a living, vital faith without good works, "let your good works shine before others." And before the more protestant-minded kick off, I know we are not saved through works but by God's good grace. Though it worries me that most churches and congregations are effectively clubs rather than kingdom builders. How do we move away from a lot of the useless historical baggage we seem carry with us (I obviously speak as an Anglican - it is a big challenge). How do we become more effectively "salt and light" in our world?