FIRST READING
He made us ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit.
A reading from the second Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 3 :4-11)
Brethren: Such is the confidence that we have through Christ towards God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our sufficiency is from God, who has qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the dispensation of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such splendour that the Israelites could not look at Moses’ face because of its brightness, fading as this was, will not the dispensation of the Spirit be attended with greater splendour? For if there was splendour in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of righteousness must far exceed it in splendour. Indeed, in this case, what once had splendour has come to have no splendour at all, because of the splendour that surpasses it. For if what faded away came with splendour, what is permanent must have much more splendour.
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps99:5.6.7.8.9 (R. see 9c)
R/. You are holy, O Lord our God
Exalt the Lord our God;
bow down before his footstool.
Holy is he! R.
Among his priests were Aaron and Moses;
among those who invoked his name was Samuel.
They cried out to the Lord and he answered. R.
R/. You are holy, O Lord our God
To them he spoke in the pillar of cloud.
They obeyed his decrees and the statutes
which he had given them. R.
O Lord our God, you answered them.
For them you were a God who forgives,
and yet you punished their offences.
Exalt the Lord our God;
bow down before his holy mountain,
for the Lord our God is holy. R.
ALLELUIA Psalm 25:4b.5a
Alleluia. Teach me your paths, O Lord. Guide me in your truth. Alleluia.
GOSPEL
I have come not to abolish the law, but to fulfil it.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Matthew 5:17-19)
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Today’s Reflection
Paul, when accused of arrogance, tries to explain that his “confidence” is not in himself but in the mission given to him by Christ. He goes on to compare the glory of Moses and his law with the far greater glory of the New Covenant in Christ Jesus. This comparison of the new with the old law was also an important theme in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it, so his disciples must go beyond the letter of the law in our behavior towards one another. If we follow this, we’ll have little time to worry about ourselves or others.