Jesus Levels up the Law!

Deacon Kevin Gingras

Feb 15, 2026

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021526.cfm

Sirach 15:15-20   Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34

1 Corinthians 2:6-10    Matthew 5:17-37

Today’s Gospel continues the Sermon on the Mount.  We heard the Beatitudes a few weeks ago.  Last week, we heard of salt and light.  This week, we hear about how Jesus did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them.  Later on in the Gospel of Matthew, we will see Jesus physically present with the Law and the Prophets in person at his Transfiguration.

Mt 17:2-3 And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.

Moses represents the Law. Elijah represents the prophets.  Even God the Father and the Holy Spirit get into the action…but let’s not jump ahead, back to the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus isn’t abolishing the law or the prophets here; instead, Jesus is leveling up the law and the prophets in this part of the Sermon on the Mount.  The first reading echoes the importance of the law as Sirach tells us: 

If you choose, you can keep the commandments; they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live; he has set before you fire and water to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.

Pro tip here: choose water! The responsorial Psalm carries on that theme: 

Blessed are they whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law of the LORD. Blessed are they who observe his decrees, who seek him with all their heart.

Then the Gospel breaks through! The law tells us you shall not kill - but Jesus levels that up: 

Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment

The law tells us we shall not commit adultery - but Jesus levels that up:

But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

The law tells us that we cannot bear false witness or take a false oath - but Jesus levels that up:

But I say to you, do not swear at all;

not by heaven, for it is God's throne;

nor by the earth, for it is his footstool;

…Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.'

Anything more is from the evil one.

The laws God gave to Moses were to keep our external actions in check; this still remains true today, perhaps more than ever!  Now, Jesus wants us to take the law to a deeper level as well, to have it written on our hearts to have that interior transformation.  Without it, He tells us we will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  With that said, I give you our Catholic word of the day - metanoia!  It’s a Greek word combining “meta”, meaning change, and “noi”, meaning mind.  Literally, it means a change of mind, but it’s more than that, so much more!  We aren’t talking about you looking at yourself in the mirror and changing your mind about your outfit!  Metanoia is a profound change of mind and conversion of heart.  Metanoia focuses on our sins, but it goes far beyond simple regret for sins; it signifies an enduring, radical transformation of one's entire being, perception, and direction—the turning away from sin and self-centeredness toward a life centered on God.

I’m not going to give us a laundry list of sins now. What I want you to do is take a moment to think of that one persisting sin, one you just can’t shake no matter what…Got it?  Good, that’s what you need to focus on during Lent.  Lent begins on Wednesday, so what better time to bring up metanoia than now!

Metanoia is hard!  Without confession, it’s impossible! God knows this, that’s why he gave us the sacrament of confession!   God also gave us a helper, a paraclete, the Holy Spirit, to assist us! The Holy Spirit is also needed for metanoia because true repentance is a divine gift, and not something we can do on our own. The Holy Spirit can convict our hearts, removing our stony hearts and replacing them with hearts that are more in tune with the teachings of Jesus Christ.  It’s always a work in progress. All we need to do is take that first step, ask for forgiveness in the confessional, and reach out to the Holy Spirit for help.  When we fall, and we will, we need to get back up and start over as soon as possible!

St. Bernard of Clairvaux tells us:

A saint is not someone who never sins, but one who sins less and less frequently and gets up more and more quickly.

Lost and Found

Homily for September 15, 2019, Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/091519.cfm As Saint Paul said in his letter to Timothy:

Indeed the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

At this point in my life, I want to stay inside that circle of faith and love that Christ Jesus radiates but it wasn’t always so. The Gospel today presents three different ways that we might stray from that circle of faith and love. First, we hear of the lost coin. To me, this represents when we strayed only a little, maybe momentarily turning away from God but our sorrow for that comes soon and we repent quickly. Perhaps it’s partaking in the water cooler gossip at work or losing your temper at others while driving. Whatever the occasion for sin, our return to Christ is fast, we are a lost coin quickly found. Next up is the lost sheep. The lost sheep strayed for a bit longer, days or even weeks. Some become the lost sheep every week, right after Mass ends while leaving the parking lot up until the next Mass. We must remember God has given us everything we have during the week as well, our houses, our cars, our jobs, and our families, not just the Church where we attend Mass each weekend. When we wonder how we can separate ourselves from God so quickly all we need to do is read the first reading from Exodus. The people have witnessed first-hand many miracles that God provided for them yet when Moses goes up to the mountain for a while the people decide to become depraved, make a golden calf, and worship that instead of the one true God. Moses intercedes for the people, just as Jesus has done for us, and God’s mercy shows through. He relents in his punishment. They had become the lost sheep while Moses was on the mountain. Finally, we hear of the Prodigal son. This parable represents when we have strayed for a long time, years or even decades! I was the prodigal son once myself. I left the faith for about 7 years through college and into my young adulthood so I can echo what St. Paul tells Timothy in his letter:

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I was mercifully treated so that in me, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in Him for everlasting life.

I paraphrased here, leaving out the parts that make me look like I a complete heretic but you get the idea! I was separated from God but even then God still loved me and sought me out. I was totally ignorant of the fact that God was looking for me, well, I should say us because my wife was a prodigal daughter as well. Even though we were still newly married with new careers and a bit of money in our pockets our lives felt empty and we weren’t able to fill that void with what society was teaching us. With a nudge from the Holy Spirit, and also the nudge of my wife, we decided to go back to Church. A few weeks, later the nudge came again, and we decided to go to Confession so we could return to receiving the Eucharist. Once that happened there was no looking back, God wrapped us in the finest robe of his love and there we have stayed and grown in our faith to this very day. We are still far from perfect but our aim is perfection and as long as we grow closer to the target each day we are headed in the right direction. We all have somebody we know as a 'Prodigal Son or Daughter'. They must know that no matter how far away from God they are He will look for them but when He finds them, they must play an active role in their salvation, it is up to them to follow Him back regardless of how far or long they have strayed. If a lost sheep hides in a crag in a cliff silently you won’t find it, but that’s not what a lost sheep does. It will fearfully bleat until the shepherd finds it. The prodigal son needed to hit rock bottom, desiring to eat the food fed to the pigs to finally allow the nudge of the Holy Spirit to work in him. Only then did he return home to his loving father who was constantly on the lookout for his return. It’s so easy today to stray from God when we are not within the walls of a sacred Church building. Much of what society teaches is contrary to our faith. We need the tools that our Catholic Church gives us. We need the sacraments first and foremost. Receive the Eucharist as often as possible and when you do be in a state of grace! The Catechism of the Catholic Church stresses this in Paragraph 1415:

Anyone who desires to receive Christ in Eucharistic communion must be in the state of grace.

To get back in that state we need to receive the graces that the sacrament of Confession gives us. Personally, I find this the sacrament I dislike the most before receiving it but love it the most once the prayer of absolution is said. The more you go the easier it gets! When I’m preparing to go I contemplate Psalm 65:

To you, all flesh will come, with its burden of sin. Too heavy for us, our offenses, but you wipe them away

I imagine all my sins, written on a big...a very big whiteboard. The priest, who represents Jesus in persona Christi, that is, in the person of Christ, takes a big eraser and clears the whiteboard, all that sin is gone just like that. It’s a very refreshing feeling! We can also use the tools that our very own Church offers us. For the men look to see if your parish has TMIY, for the women some parishes offer WINE - Women In the New Evangelization. Check to see if you have a Bible study. Faith is important for your children too, make your children's Religious Education classes a priority. Look to see if the is a local adoration chapel, and that’s for all ages, children too. Try bringing your kids and go for only 15 minutes to start, you don’t need to sign up, just show up. Take the time to pray, in the presence of Jesus, for all those who have strayed. While there, ask Jesus for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the words to say to those who have strayed to invite them back into the Church where they can find healing and a home. Tell those you know the good news of these stories; that no matter how far away from God we may go, He cares about each and every one of us VERY intensely whether you are a lost coin, a lost sheep, or a prodigal son. God will search for you. All we need to do is let God find us. What better saint to quote then probably the most famous prodigal son of them all, St. Augustine, who said:

Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.

Go The Extra Mile

This time around is the homily for the Eucharistic service at the Life Care Center.

June 16, 2019, Monday.

Check out the link first so the blog makes sense!

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061719.cfm

This Gospel reading always reminded me of my high school Shop teacher Mr. Bradley, who was also my classroom driver's education instructor.  Mr. Bradley would always say “if you are driving down the road at night and the car coming towards you has their headlights on high beam, you don’t turn yours on back at them because then you have TWO blind idiots driving down the road”!

That was an eye for an eye, both drivers can’t see and what good does that do if you crash into each other?  It doesn’t do any good at all.  The Old Testament commandment of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was to make the punishment match the crime and not exceed it.  Back then if somebody stole something from you they could be put to death for that.  The penalty was a bit excessive so God, through Moses put an end to that form of extreme punishment.

Then many years later Jesus comes along and takes that one step further and says if anyone presses you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles.  This “going the extra mile” had a special meaning to the Jews back in Jesus’ time.  The law allowed a Roman soldier to force anyone in the empire to carry his equipment for one mile and this law was particularly annoying to the Jews because it would interrupt their day and force them to help the enemy.

Now here is Jesus, the man who is to be their new leader, their new king telling them not only to obey the Roman law they hated but to double it willingly.  What kind of leader was he?  Well, since we know the rest of the story we know that Jesus wasn’t an earthly leader and savior but a Heavenly one instead.  He was trying to get them to think that way as well, to look towards heaven instead of looking towards the earth.

Even today, this is very difficult for us to understand as we live in an earthly body with an earthly brain.  We can’t do this on our own, we need help, heavenly help.  That’s where the first readings advice comes in handy.  “We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain”.  We need the grace of God to use our earthly brains to understand the Heavenly glory that waits for each and every one of us.  For now, the first reading continues, “while we are on this earth we must show purity, knowledge, patience, kindness” and for that, we need the Holy Spirit, the power of God given to us here on earth to get us through.

Saint Basil gives us a great summation of this when he said:

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds.  A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.

Keep the flame alive

On June 9th, 2019 I was blessed to be able to preach on Pentecost Sunday.  When I said I would preach however I had no idea we had so many choices of readings, including totally different vigil readings to that of Mass during the day!  

Here are the links for the readings:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060919-vigil.cfm

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060919-day.cfm


Easter season is coming to an end and here in Massachusetts we now enter our pine pollen season!!  All kidding aside, however, over the Easter season, our liturgy, our Church, and the Holy Spirit have taken us on an amazing journey until today’s celebration of not just Pentecost, but also the birth of our Church!  No worries, I will NOT torture you with a poor rendition of singing happy birthday to our Church but it is indeed a monumental celebration today!

During the Easter season, we had many “Holy Spirit” moments.  The bishop was here for our confirmation where the confirmandi received the Holy Spirit.  Our diocese also joined in a novena to the Holy Spirit to ask for a strengthening of the 7 gifts in each of us, the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, understanding, piety, and fear of the Lord.  We held several baptisms, our second graders received their first communion, myself as well as 8 other men with me, received the sacrament of Holy Orders as permanent deacons in the Fall River Diocese, and our friend, Fr. Ryan Healy received the sacrament of Holy Orders as a priest for the Fall River diocese.   Now today we wear red vestments to symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit that is indeed alive and well in our little East Taunton Church just as it was over 2000 years ago.

For a moment, let’s try to go back in time and imagine what it was like so many years ago.  Jesus had been put to death around 40 days ago.  The followers of Christ were floundering around a bit, still a little lost.  Jesus ascended 10 days ago and told them to remain in the city and wait for the Helper, the Paraclete.  They listened, and now they have all gathered around together and were celebrating the Jewish Feast of Weeks also known as Pentecost where Jews would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate their delivery from slavery into freedom and the covenant Law that God delivered to Moses at Mt. Sinai.

Suddenly the promise that the Holy Spirit would arrive came to fulfillment.  There was a sound like a strong wind.  Tongues as of fire came to rest on each of them.  They spoke in tongues and those gathered could understand their speeches even though they were foreigners to each other.  This was very different from the story of the Tower of Babel where, in their arrogance, the people thought they could build a tower to God. To put an end to this silliness God came down and confused their language and stopped them from building such a tower.  At Pentecost, we see just the opposite.  The Holy Spirit gives them all the spirit of understanding, even of languages they are not familiar with.  With this divine action, the Holy Spirit is about to give birth to a heavenly “city” on earth, the Church.  The original Law that God wrote on the stone tablets for Moses to give to God’s people at Sinai will now be written on our hearts instead.

This also got me thinking - what would be the result if this event happened today in time.  If right now in our Churches we heard the driving wind and tongues of fire came to rest on each of us what would happen?  Odds are the Churches sprinkler system would kick in and extinguish the flames.  

Then that line of thinking got me wondering - what are the things in our lives that do just that, extinguish the flame of the Holy Spirit that should always be burning within us.  

Is there some sin, some passion that is contrary to the Holy Spirit that we allow to put out that flame?  Is it too much time at work?  To much time put into lawn care or sports or cleaning or anything that moves God to the side and becomes a fire extinguisher to the flame of the Holy Spirit.

Instead, we need to find the things that will fuel the fire of the Holy Spirit making it stronger than those other passions!   These things should include prayer, forgiveness, reading scripture, rosaries, frequent reception of the sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession.  Eucharistic adoration is great kindling to help fuel the fire of the Holy Spirit - we have this here in our Holy Family Parish, Monday through Friday 11 am to 10 pm in the Parish Center Chapel.   There are many other things to help fuel the fire, this is not an exhaustive list, what ideas can you come up with?

So why would we want to keep the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in us?  In our choices of readings today we see several reasons to keep the fire of the Holy Spirit going:

• Without the Spirit, we could not say Jesus is Lord.
• The Spirit is manifested in each of us for some benefit, pray about what that is and use the manifestation to build up the Church.
• If we have the Spirit alive in us we also have Christ alive in us as well, they go hand in hand!
• By allowing us to be led by the Spirit we become children of God.  We receive a Spirit of adoption that allows us to cry “Abba, Father!”
• If we are children of God then we are also joint heirs with Christ.
• If we have the Spirit then the whole trinity makes it’s dwelling within us!
• The Spirit will also come to the aid of our weakness and will teach us how to pray properly.

That’s probably where we need the Spirit the most, to teach us how to pray properly to assist us in our weaknesses.  If we can do this properly then the fire of the Spirit will not be extinguished when we leave the parking lot (or even before that) but will remain burning brightly all week long!  We no longer light the Easter candle at Sunday Mass but we must remember to keep that flame burning in our hearts, burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit and take that flame out into the world with us.

This week let's all ponder this prayer from St. Augustine:

O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.