Jun 5, 2025 Written by 

Revelation of equal dignity

(Mt 5:27-32)

 

In Semitic matrimonial law, woman was valued as property of her husband: she was not considered a juridical person, but a man’s possession, who could dominate her.

Also in the First Testament the adultery’ sin was evaluated as a sort of serious violation of the male’s right of property, as well as impurity of blood [the mixing of which was abhorred].

It may seem strange to our mentality, but this had greater weight than the same moral transgression.

Jesus instead reveals the value of the person as such.

He brings to the fore the sense of approaches and violations that harm and offend the existence of the weak.

Even introduces the announcement of equal dignity between man and woman.

Marriage is community of love, not union that can be dissolved by caprice and material calculation.

Situation that will eventually censor the defenseless woman - who then [abandoned] for a living will be condemned to suffer other violations of herself (v.32).

With sharp words, the Lord recalls the need for a harsh intransigence towards every pedestrian deviation of selfishness, which humiliates the innocent without safeguards.

To save love and give it vigour, the Master also proposes painful amputations. Making the most serious sacrifices can free the "strong" from his delirium.

An attraction without self-giving doesn’t express the person to the person, it’s the unripe fruit of wandering immaturity and leads to alienation.

The woman - that is, the weak and innocent, who loves more and seriously - is not a creature liable to mockery, nor reducible to possession, what, consumer good, only useful to the landlord.

Albertine Tshibilondi Ngoyi writes as follows:

«The African woman is neither a reflection of the man nor a slave. She has no need to imitate man in order to express her personality. She secretes an original civilization with her work, her personal genius, her concerns, her language and her customs. She did not allow herself to be colonized by man and by the prestige of male civilization».

 

 

To internalize and live the message:

 

Do you have a look that opens the door to betrayal? Don’t you think it manifests in action a lightness of approach and a poor choice of life?

Don't you think that the disintegrated heart is a sign of a deeper restlessness and dissatisfaction, which goes beyond moral infidelity?

Do you reflect on how to invest the energies that travel your call and mission?

 

 

[Friday 10th wk. in O.T.  June 13, 2025]

181 Last modified on Friday, 13 June 2025 12:00
don Giuseppe Nespeca

Giuseppe Nespeca è architetto e sacerdote. Cultore della Sacra scrittura è autore della raccolta "Due Fuochi due Vie - Religione e Fede, Vangeli e Tao"; coautore del libro "Dialogo e Solstizio".

And one thing is the woman before Jesus, another thing is the woman after Jesus. Jesus dignifies the woman and puts her on the same level as the man because he takes that first word of the Creator, both are “God’s image and likeness”, both; not first the man and then a little lower the woman, no, both. And the man without the woman next to him - both as mother, as sister, as bride, as work partner, as friend - that man alone is not the image of God (Pope Francis)
E una cosa è la donna prima di Gesù, un’altra cosa è la donna dopo Gesù. Gesù dignifica la donna e la mette allo stesso livello dell’uomo perché prende quella prima parola del Creatore, tutti e due sono “immagine e somiglianza di Dio”, tutti e due; non prima l’uomo e poi un pochino più in basso la donna, no, tutti e due. E l’uomo senza la donna accanto – sia come mamma, come sorella, come sposa, come compagna di lavoro, come amica – quell’uomo solo non è immagine di Dio (Papa Francesco)
Only one creature has already scaled the mountain peak: the Virgin Mary. Through her union with Jesus, her righteousness was perfect: for this reason we invoke her as Speculum iustitiae. Let us entrust ourselves to her so that she may guide our steps in fidelity to Christ’s Law (Pope Benedict)
Una sola creatura è già arrivata alla cima della montagna: la Vergine Maria. Grazie all’unione con Gesù, la sua giustizia è stata perfetta: per questo la invochiamo Speculum iustitiae. Affidiamoci a lei, perché guidi anche i nostri passi nella fedeltà alla Legge di Cristo (Papa Benedetto)
Jesus showed us with a new clarity the unifying centre of the divine laws revealed on Sinai […]  Indeed, in his life and in his Paschal Mystery Jesus brought the entire law to completion.  Uniting himself with us through the gift of the Holy Spirit, he carries with us and in us the “yoke” of the law, which thereby becomes a “light burden” (Pope Benedict)
Gesù ci ha mostrato con una nuova chiarezza il centro unificante delle leggi divine rivelate sul Sinai […] Anzi, Gesù nella sua vita e nel suo mistero pasquale ha portato a compimento tutta la legge. Unendosi con noi mediante il dono dello Spirito Santo, porta con noi e in noi il "giogo" della legge, che così diventa un "carico leggero" (Papa Benedetto)
The light of our faith, in giving of oneself, does not fade but strengthens. However it can weaken if we do not nourish it with love and with charitable works. In this way the image of light complements that of salt. The Gospel passage, in fact, tells us that, as disciples of Christ, we are also “the salt of the earth” (Pope Francis)
La luce della nostra fede, donandosi, non si spegne ma si rafforza. Invece può venir meno se non la alimentiamo con l’amore e con le opere di carità. Così l’immagine della luce s’incontra con quella del sale. La pagina evangelica, infatti, ci dice che, come discepoli di Cristo, siamo anche «il sale della terra» (Papa Francesco)
First, in Nazareth, he makes him grow, raises him, educates him, but then follows him: "Your mother is there" (Pope Francis)
Prima, a Nazareth, lo fa crescere, lo alleva, lo educa, ma poi lo segue: “La tua madre è lì” (Papa Francesco)
“It is part of the mystery of God that he acts so gently, that he only gradually builds up his history within the great history of mankind; that he becomes man and so can be overlooked by his contemporaries and by the decisive forces within history; that he suffers and dies and that, having risen again, he chooses to come to mankind only through the faith (Pope Benedict, Regina Coeli 22 maggio 2011]

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