Seventh Sunday after Epiphany – Year A
not observed 2026
Gospel Lectionary Text
Matthew 5:38-48
5:38 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'
5:39 But I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also,
5:40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give your coat as well,
5:41 and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.
5:42 Give to the one who asks of you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
5:43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
5:44 But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
5:45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
5:47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the gentiles do the same?
5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Context
Coming soon.
Question
Coming soon.
Reflections
The Box by the Door
By Ojii BaBa Madi |
This world’s devotion to middle class affluence is predicated on the sacraments of global gentrification’s hard sweeping brooms, capitalism’s consumerist temples, and a careless society’s superhighways that bypass the poor, the blind, and those crowded out by “progress.”
Salt and Light
By Joel Van Dyke |
This past Sunday morning I attended a unique worship service with some friends. It was called “Street Church;” all the parishioners are homeless youth from a particular area of Guatemala City. Street Church is coordinated by a ministry called Sigo Vivo, founded by Pastor Rudy Hernandez, his wife Tatiana and their teenage daughters. Rudy pastored…
A Solitary Light
By Kris Rocke |
Jesus reminds us that we are salt and light. These are twin gifts of our deepest vocation - to be human.
Praying Eucharistically - Weekly Homily by James Alison:
Girardian Lectionary Weekly Reflection:
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Poetry
For The Unknown Enemy
by William Stafford
This monument is for the unknown
good in our enemies. Like a picture
their life began to appear: they
gathered at home in the evening
and sang. Above their fields they saw
a new sky. A holiday came
and they carried the baby to the park
for a party. Sunlight surrounded them.
Here we glimpse what our minds long turned
away from. The great mutual
blindness darkened that sunlight in the park,
and the sky that was new, and the holidays.
This monument says that one afternoon
we stood here letting a part of our minds
escape. They came back, but different.
Enemy: one day we glimpsed your life.
This monument is for you.
Prayer
Coming soon.