February 19, 2023 - Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” In that line from our second reading today, St. Paul tells us who and whose we are! We are holy temples of God because through our baptism/confirmation the Spirit of God is dwelling in each of us. God, then, in our first reading from the Book of Leviticus helps us to see what this holiness of ours is to look like. One who is “holy” doesn’t nourish hatred for someone but seeks to forgive them regardless of what they have done. When it is necessary to correct a person, one who is “holy” does so with the intent of helping them to improve knowing that they themselves have plenty of room for improvement. In our gospel passage Jesus challenges us to see that anyone can do what comes naturally; that is, to love those who love you (even scoundrels go home at night and kiss their babies). So, to be “holy”, he says, is to “love your enemies” and “to pray for those who persecute you.” In short, Jesus reminds us that we are to be “holy” because this is the way God is, and we are the children of God. As “holy” people if we are ever in doubt what to do, we are to remember the GOLDEN RULE: “DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU!” Fr. John Mark Ettensohn, OMI