June the 13
th is the Feast of St Anthony of Padua, the great preacher and miracle worker. He is also known and invoked to help find lost objects. Let’s pray to him that he may intercede for us in the search for holiness and truth in our daily lives.
In the first reading of today’s liturgy, we see Elijah anointing
Elisha son of Shaphat to serve as a prophet by placing his cloak over him.
Elisha (salvation of God), slaughters 12 yoke of oxen; he boiled their flesh and gave the meat to the people. Then he followed Elijah.
Elisha surrendered totally, to the work of God without half-measure.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples: “
You have heard… but I tell you.” Jesus, in fact, did not come to abolish the old law, but to fulfil it. Jesus is the fulfilment of all the laws. The reason for saying this is that in many cases the law had either been watered down or was interpreted in a rigid way in order to suit the status of those in authority. So, in the Gospel of today, Jesus says that the old law was interpreted to say: “
You shall not swear falsely.” Actually, He says: “
Do not swear at all.” Of course, under the excuse of using various substitutes for the Divine name, the oath held different meanings, to swearing by heaven, by the earth, by Jerusalem… Thus, it gave a sign of untruthfulness and distrust of others.
An oath, we can say, is a reflection of people’s sinful state. It shows the tendency to lie and to distrust one another. On the other hand, if we were truthful to ourselves, we would take others at their word and oaths would have no place whatsoever.
Right! In swearing an oath, we don’t expect truthfulness or trust among ourselves. That’s why Jesus said that anything more or less than
Yes or
No, is from the evil one. Let’s pray therefore that Jesus may help us to live in love and trust one another and that our words always reflect sincerity and trust.