(1 Kg 21:1-16; Ps 5; Mt 5:38-42)<\/p>\n
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\u201cAn eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Retaliation is one of the world\u2019s oldest and most contagious sins. Did you know that the Old Testament law of \u201can eye for an eye\u201d was designed to put a limit on retaliation? It is found in Leviticus 24:19-20. According to Fr. Paul Fachet OMI, our local scripture scholar, it is known as the Talion Law<\/em>, derived from the Latin Talis Qualis<\/em>. The meaning of that term is \u201clike this, like that.\u201d It has the meaning of tit-for-tat, quid-pro-quo, measure for measure.<\/p>\n Bishop Robert Barron adds this insight: Consider the Lord\u2019s injunction, \u201cWhen someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.\u201d I realize that this sounds like mere passivity, fleeing before evil, but the truth is anything but. In Jesus\u2019 time, you would not have used your left hand for any type of social interaction, since it was considered unclean. Therefore, to strike someone on the right cheek is to strike him with the back of your hand, the way a master might treat a slave.<\/p>\n By turning the other cheek, one neither fights back directly nor flees, but rather stands his ground and declares, \u201cYou will not treat me that way again.\u201d It thereby effectively mirrors back to the aggressor his aggression. It is the declaration that the aggressed person refuses to cooperate with the world of the aggressor.<\/p>\n Gandhi, however, apparently stated that if we lived by that Talion Law, the whole world would be blind and toothless! Surely, he appreciated the teachings of Jesus who asks us to go one daring step further. Don\u2019t resist evil, he says, conquer it with good. Choose mercy and love over vengeance. After all, that\u2019s what Jesus did. Consider all the offenses he had to endure, even before his crucifixion. All the lies, the gossip, and the false accusations \u2013 even the demands of the crowds, who seemed to have no regard for his needs. Surely these offenses cried out for an answer \u2013 for retaliation.<\/p>\n But how did Jesus respond? By loving more. By giving more. By forgiving more \u2013 seventy times seven times. There was no resentment in his voice, no reluctance in his miracles, no indignation in his attitude. Even when he was rebuking his opponents or overturning the tables in the Temple, it was out of anguish, not rage. Then came the ultimate show of mercy triumphing over retaliation: on the cross, he cried out, \u201cFather, forgive them\u201d (Lk 23:34).<\/p>\n In the first reading, we are presented with the opposite example in King Ahab, whose greed, abetted by his wife Jezebel, leads to the unjust murder of an innocent man, Naboth the Jezreelite, because he refused to sell his vineyard.\u00a0 Out of fear and intimidation, the leading elders and nobles of the city caved in, bought the lie of two scoundrels, and were complicit in Naboth\u2019s death. This is so often the way of the world, to our present day, where wealth and power often overrule justice for the vulnerable and innocent.<\/p>\n \u201cTurn the other cheek.\u201d \u201cResist not the evil doer.\u201d These are challenging words. It\u2019s tempting to say that Jesus was just exaggerating, but his own witness tells us otherwise. He really does want us to be as merciful and peace-loving as possible. But he also knows who we are and how far we have to go before we get there. He knows we want to be forgiving, but that there are certain situations that can be very hard for us. So, take heart, try your best, and remember Jesus alone is perfectly merciful. He will never demand \u201can eye for an eye\u201d from us. No, he chooses to pray \u201cFather, forgive them.\u201d Every time.<\/p>\n The Eucharist is itself an experience of that unconditional love and forgiveness of Jesus, through Word and Sacrament. May our celebration strengthen our faith and empower us to come closer to living out the teachings of Jesus in our lives, to love others as he has loved us.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HOMILY WEEK 11 01 \u2013 Year II Living the Law of Love (1 Kg 21:1-16; Ps 5; Mt 5:38-42) ************************************* \u201cAn eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.\u201d Retaliation is one of the world\u2019s oldest and most contagious sins. Did you know that the Old Testament law of \u201can eye for an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies","category-ordinary-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8539"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8542,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8539\/revisions\/8542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Talion-law.jpg\")
That law was designed to put a limit on violence. The goal was to keep people from inflicting more damage on the other than they had received from that person. Actually, it was considered an innovation for its time. It was not uncommon for a victim to over-retaliate against an attacker. If one man killed another man\u2019s brothers, the second man would feel justified in killing the first one\u2019s entire family. So, this law helped keep the cycle of revenge from spiraling into ever-increasing violence.<\/p>\n