“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment…”
That’s today’s gospel. I remember an earlier post I had on “Just War”. This is what Jesus said, before it was watered down by Augustine and Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. After Constantine accepted Christianity as the state religion you can see a “watering down” of the Jesus message that has continued up to the present day. Earlier this week, the gospel was about the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes, Matthew 25 and today’s Gospel form the core of what Jesus taught and lived. In a post on Sunday I wrote that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was more about living in relationship with our brothers and sisters than it is his death on the cross.
In a book I read several years ago the author stated that in the first millenium after the resurrection the emphasis was on living in relationship and that in the second millenia the emphasis switched to more of an emphasis on the atoning death. Perhaps that is why so many who profess Christianity today talk only of his death and pay little attention to what he actually said.
St. Francis of Assisi incorporated the entire life of Christ into all that he did and that is the basis of the Franciscan Rule. St. Francis’ “Canticle of Creation” is about living in relationship with all creation. That’s interesting isn’t it. Pax et Bonum.
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