Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia
Praised be Jesus and Mary.
We're here in this morning's first reading.
St. Paul is admonishing the Corinthians and he speaks to us too.
He begs us not to receive the grace of God in vain.
He says, in an acceptable time I have heard you, on the day of salvation I have helped you.
Amen.
Now is the acceptable time.
Now, today, is the day of salvation.
I remember a story.
St. Thomas More had a friend.
He wasn't leaving the most exemplary Christian life.
He had a pretty foul mouth.
And St. Thomas was...
begging him, you know, just as St. Paul was begging the Corinthians.
You know, that he's, going to have to change his ways.
He's gonna have to cooperate with the graces God gives him now.
And he says to St. Thomas, I know God is
all merciful.
And, at the end of my life,
all I have to do is to say, my Jesus' mercy.
And in His love.
And in His mercy.
And in His love.
and his infinite mercy, he'll forgive me.
And many people today think the same way.
Not tomorrow, or not today, you know.
I'll become a saint tomorrow, I'll become holy,
or I'll get back to church tomorrow, or later.
Anyway, one day, St. Thomas and his friend were out riding.
And his friend's horse stumbled on a rock,
and he went flying through the air, and he said,
What the hell?
And his head struck a rock, and he was killed instantly.
And those were the last words from his mouth,
not mouth.
By Jesus' mercy.
Today is the day of salvation.
And today is the day that we cooperate with God's grace,
the graces that our Blessed Mother is obtaining for us.
And if we can't find the fortitude, the strength to do that,
we need to beg our Lady for the grace to cooperate with the graces she gives us.
And how do we do that?
Well, our Lord tells us in today's Gospel,
to turn the other cheek.
He brings up the law of Italian to the Jews,
that Moses had gotten the people,
to just say an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
You know, because the mentality back then was,
if someone wronged you, you gave it back to them tenfold.
You know, if someone murdered your brother,
you went and wiped out their whole family,
and their grandfather, and their grandchildren,
their children.
So that was pretty lenient, according to the Jewish mentality,
just to pay back equal.
But our Lord says, no, don't even do that.
If someone wrongs you, turn the other cheek.
And many of the movies today, you know,
the whole theme is revenge and getting even.
But that's anything but Christian.
That's not what our Lord is telling us today.
And people look at you and think you're crazy.
Yeah, turn the other cheek, you know.
Our Lord must have been speaking figuratively,
or you know, he was God.
He didn't understand human nature.
But it's only natural if someone insults you
to insult them back.
It's only natural if someone slaps you
to slap them back.
Slap them back.
But our Lord isn't calling us to have a natural reaction.
He wants us to have a supernatural reaction.
He's given us a supernatural life through our baptism.
So we're not to live on the natural plane.
But on a supernatural plane.
So let us not receive the grace of God in vain as St. Paul begs us.