Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle
Today’s Gospel admonitions from the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount present a challenging dimension of the call to Christian discipleship. “Not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law,” Jesus told us in yesterday’s Gospel reading. If anything, the demands of Christian life are far greater than those of the law, for not only must we refrain from killing, but we are told that “whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” Not only is the outward action of killing forbidden, then, but we are to eradicate even the possiblity of such a sin from our hearts by striking at its hidden roots, which lie in attitudes such as brooding anger or resentment.
Confronting the roots of sin in our hearts can be a discouraging experience, for, if we are honest, those roots are often quite difficult to tear up. The effects of sin in our wounded nature run deep. And in point of fact, we cannot heal ourselves of such wounds; humanity cannot save itself.
And yet, as the saints and holy ones like Barnabas, the “son of encouragement,” remind us through their preaching and example, the grace of God is at work. God’s love in Christ, poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (see Rom 5:5), is indomitable, and we need only to allow the Spirit to work and “to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart.” Let us, then, ask the Holy Spirit to strike at the roots of sin within us each day, so that as he turns over the soil of our hearts, they may become fertile ground for the word of God to grow and bear much fruit.