GOSPEL REFLECTION, FRIDAY, 1ST WEEK OF LENT, 27 FEBRUARY 2026

Matthew 5:20-26.  In Ch 5 of Matthew’s gospel Jesus pronounces six different emphatic instructions to us – he taught ‘with authority.’  His six instructions contrast the religious practice of the Pharisees, for example, with his own teaching of the Kingdom – “but I say to you.”  These instructions are part of the Sermon on the Mount, to which we pay particular attention in our spiritual life.  In the four centuries or so before Jesus, Jewish religious practice had become increasingly legalistic and ritualistic, largely a matter of external observances ultimately derived from the law.  But Jesus is calling for an interiorization of religion, a matter of the heart and soul, of our inner being. 

In our own approach to Lent there is a real possibility of emphasising external practices such as fasting or almsgiving without the inward transformation of our hearts and minds that is true repentance.  It is possible for religious people to become so concerned with external practice that inner transformation and conversion of life become diminished or even set aside.  Repentance such as we are called to in Lent is first and foremost a constant turning around of our way of life toward what Jesus calls ‘righteousness,’ or holiness, a sanctification of our inner motives and thoughts.  In Christian teaching these come first.  When they are truly aligned with the Kingdom way they then result in external practice, not vice versa.   Daily conversion of life is our vocation -- conversion of our inner life resulting in external transformation of how we are with God, with others, and with our very own selves. 

Today’s teaching concerns the control of anger, both spontaneous outbursts of anger, and that long, simmering sort of anger that is so destructive in our relationship with God, with others, and with ourselves.  Displays of anger result from a disordered inner self, and that is where conversion of life comes first.  Such conversion (repentance, change of direction to the Kingdom way) is our vocation in Lent and at all other times of our Christian life.