"We are made new in Christ.'

Old Things Pass Away:

" if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation."

Our “death” is that of the old sin nature which was nailed to the cross with Christ.

  

Blessed Virgin Mary

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊      

 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Indeed,

The love of Christ holds us, and we realize that if he died for all, all have died.

He died for all so that those who live may live no longer for themselves,

but for him who died and rose again for them. And so, from now on,

we do not regard anyone from a human point of view;

and even if we once knew Christ personally, we should now regard him in another way.

 

For that same reason, the one who is in Christ is a new creature.

For him, the old things have passed away; a new world has come.

All this is the work of God, who, in Christ, reconciled us to himself, and who entrusted to us the ministry of reconciliation.

Because, in Christ, God reconciled the world with himself, no longer taking into account their trespasses,

and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

 

So we present ourselves as ambassadors in the name of Christ,

as if God himself makes an appeal to you through us.

Let God reconcile you; this we ask you in the name of Christ. He had no sin,

but God made him bear our sin, so that in him, we might share the holiness of God.

 

Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12 The Lord is kind and merciful.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Matthew 5:33-37

You have also heard that people were told in the past: Do not break your oath;

an oath sworn to the Lord must be kept. But I tell you this: do not take oaths.

Do not swear by the heavens, for they are God's throne; nor by the earth, because it is his footstool;

nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great king. Do not even swear by your head,

because you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes' and your 'No' mean 'No'.

Anything else you say comes from the evil one.

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"We are made new in Christ.'

I was speaking to a friend who talked about how her attitudes changed when she became a mother.

Her focus in life completely changed. Indeed, it was as if she inhabited a new world, seeing things in a different way.

Saint Paul also talks of a new world and a change in people. This time, however, we are the babies,

not the parents, and we are reborn in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, in Baptism.

"The one who is in Christ is a new creature. For him, a new world has come." We are made new in Christ:

 

new through the forgiveness of sin, new in the life of grace, new in the capacity for virtue, new in possibilities to serve the Lord.

Through Christ we have a new existence and a new perspective. "We do not regard anyone from a human point of view."

Secular philosophy would have us do quite the opposite, by looking at human existence from a mechanical perspective,

excluding the spiritual qualities of being human. But we are incarnate spirit, reborn in Christ,

destined for the glory of heaven. That's the real perspective on life.