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SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME -- YEAR A Welcome everyone to the program IN THE BEGINNING.
I am Fr. Linh. Today we celebrate the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary
Time -- Year A. Our Gospel passage is from Saint Matthew,
chapter five, from verse seventeen to thirty-seven.
You may know the story of the butcher who cheated people putting his thumb on the
scales. Late one afternoon a lady came into the butcher
shop and wanted a chicken.
He had only one chicken left in the meat counter. He put it on the scales and announced the
price. She hesitated. She said, "I think I would
have a little larger bird." He said, "That's no problem."
He then reached into the meat counter, put the same chicken back in,
shuffled around a little bit and brought out the same chicken.
He put it on the scale this time with his thumb on the scale
and announced a heavier weight and higher price.
She smiled and said, "Fine, I'll take it! In fact, I think I'll take BOTH OF THEM."
I don't know how he could give two chickens to the lady
since he had only one left in his shop.
Opening today's Gospel passage, Jesus draws attention to "righteousness."
Yet we have a crisis of honesty, integrity, ethics, morality.
Newspapers and magazines abound with stories of people
and corporations who have slipped and fallen. There are many cheaters at every turn.
Sometimes we cheat a little. Sometimes a lot. Is it that big a deal? The answer is a resounding
"Yes." For one thing, society suffers when we cheat.
A man confessed to his pastor that he stole something --
a hammer from the steel mill where he worked. "Everybody was doing it," he said. No big
deal. His pastor, though, told him about a report
in the newspapers that thefts at this particular mill
averaged out to a thousand dollars a week. His hammer along with what others were taking
was costing the company over $50,000 a year. "To make up for that loss," his pastor noted,
"the factory raises the price of steel. Consequently, everyone who buys a car,
purchases an appliance, remodels his house, etc.,
has to pay the price for your hammer. You didn't hurt the company," his pastor assured
him, "you hurt everybody in this city."
And that's true. We hurt the entire society when integrity is not maintained.
We also hurt people we love. Think how terrible it is to have a friend,
or a child, or a parent, or a husband, or a wife, whom you cannot trust.
Young person when considering a potential mate for marriage,
I guess they would look for first the quality of integrity.
Can he or she be trusted? That might be the best argument for saying
no to sex before marriage.
If a young person can handle this temptation, then he or she can handle almost any integrity
buster that comes along. He or she is a person of character.
When we cheat, we hurt people we love.
People of integrity are usually more successful in every aspect of their lives.
Integrity, or righteousness, is a big deal because it matters to God.
Jesus said, "I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses
that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven"
(Matthew 5:20). We have been talking about integrity.
Righteousness is even a more important concept. It carries the idea of doing right,
but also of our "rightness" with God. We are to do right always
because that is what God requires of us. We hurt society and others
when we do not maintain integrity.
Now the difficult part, though. How? How shall we be people of integrity?
One. Always be honest. Integrity is not a 90 percent thing,
not a 95 percent thing. Either you have it or you don't. If you have
it, it's one hundred percent. Two. Treat others the way you would like to
be treated. Put yourself in the other person's place
and ask yourself how you would like to be treated.
Would you want to be discriminated against because of the color of your skin?
Would you want to be taken advantage of in a business transaction?
People of integrity think of others. Three. Always give your best.
Integrity, or righteousness, is not simply a matter of never doing wrong.
Rather it is making your life an offering to God.
It is seeking to be a person more concerned about the quality of your life
than the quality of your automobile. Finally, remember the price Christ paid on
the cross for our cheating.
"Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Brothers and Sisters! This is a necessary
price we have to pay in order to get into the kingdom of heaven.
Let us pray: Jesus, Prince of all Heavenly truths,
Your Words are carved for eternity! You have commanded the virtue of honesty,
It is the power against all deceptions. Direct Your Spirit of honesty upon me,
That by soul may always remain stainless. Guide my daily thoughts, words and actions,
To join those living by the Spirit of truth. For honesty yields harmony and loyalty,
Enriching all human relationships. By the power of Your Spirit that flourishes,
Honesty will prevail in this world!
Thank you for listening. Please subscribe to my video
and visit my website at FATHERLINH.com. May God bless you.