THE PARISH OF Warrnambool West & Dennington

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Homilies

7 C  2019

I’m pretty sure that we have all heard of the Golden Rule. My vague memory is that when I was a child it was expressed as “Do unto others as you would that they should do to you”, but today’s Gospel expresses it more succinctly and in a way that is easier to understand: “Treat others as you would like them to treat you.”

The first reading tells how the great hero, David, at this stage a fugitive from King Saul, and quite simply a bandit (you’d call him a bushranger except that it’s the wrong word for the time and place) …the reading tells how David spared Saul’s life when he could perfectly easily have killed him in his sleep. When David spared Saul, even though the biblical author says that he considered Saul to be the Lord’s anointed king whom it would be blasphemous to kill, you might say, because you know that the first reading is supposed to direct our thoughts to a theme in the Gospel, that David was treating others as he would like to be treated himself. He was acting, you could say, according to the Golden Rule.

We have all heard of the Golden Rule, but I wonder whether we are all aware that it is a commandment from Jesus. Even among those of us who are regular churchgoers, there are perhaps quite a few who, when we think of commandments, think only of the ten commandments given to Moses, but rarely (if ever) of the commandments given to us by Jesus.

Part of the problem may be that nowadays we are inclined to consider even the Ten Commandments more as the Ten Guidelines – Honour your father and mother if they appear to deserve it; Do not steal unless it’s from a really rich company. And if we are inclined to edit the commandments in that way perhaps we are inclined to see the Gospel imperatives too as optional extras, intended for people much holier than the likes of us.

Well, maybe we are being offered a goal or a target to aim for; but surely we should endeavour to be compassionate rather than uncaring; should try to avoid judging others; and if we pray “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” surely we should be people who prefer forgiveness over animosity or resentment.

In the end, I suspect that we are being invited and challenged to develop a generous heart, a generous nature. We are invited, even, to be somewhat counter-cultural. If the culture tells us to retaliate first, to do unto others before they do unto you; if it tells us that the only way to treat a mug is as a mug, a generous heart and a generous nature may get in the way of that advice and interfere with it. So why bother?

Well, the Gospel has an answer: Give and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.

Professional Standards.

Our Parish Safeguarding Officer, overseeing and supporting our commitment to Child Safety, is Mrs Rachel Brown, telephone 0402 009 785.

Click here for the Parish Commitment Statement to Child Safety Policy.

Click here for the Parish Child Safety Policy.

Click here for the Parish Child Safety Code of Conduct.

Plenary Council 2020

Click on this site to have your say:

https://plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au/resources/have-your-say/