The gospel for Friday of the 10th week in Ordinary Time is taken from Matthew 5th, chapter 2732. Jesus said to his disciples, you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.

It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into gehenna. It was also said, whoever divorces wife must give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, unless the marriage is unlawful, causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. What is clear in this passage and the one we had yesterday, is how Jesus is taking us from simple laws to what is at the heart of them, the intention that he wants us to have. And in this case he’s talking about the power and the importance of being committed, making a promise and keeping it. And the penalty is so violent that it makes sense that he’s just saying, to be a whole person, to be who I want you to be.

One thing I ask of you, keep your promises. Be who you are intended to be and who you present yourself to be. Please ponder this reflection and I’ll close with a prayer. Father, you continually open our eyes and move us from rules and regulations into a disposition of heart. And you are the only one that can give us the fidelity that we need, the honesty we need. Bless us with these gifts, and we ask this in Jesus name.

Amen.