Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lev. 19:1-2, 17-18; Ps. 103; 1 Cor. 3:16-23; Matt. 5:38-48

The 1987 movie The Untouchables is a fictionalized account of how Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner) and the FBI brought down notorious Chicago mobster Al Capone. Ness enlists the help of a Chicago cop named Jim Malone (Sean Connery). At a critical juncture of the movie, Ness is struggling to find a way to stop Capone, who is not shy about using everything from urban terrorism to bribing judges to keep his criminal enterprise going.

Ness finds himself in a Catholic church, seeking divine guidance. Malone kneels down next to him and says: “You said you wanted to get Capone. Do you really wanna get him? You see what I’m saying is, what are you prepared to do?”

Ness answers: “Anything within the law.”

Malone responds: “And then, what are you prepared to do? If you open the can of these worms, you must be prepared to go all the way. Because they’re not gonna give up the fight until one of you is dead.”

Ness insists: “I want to get Capone! I don’t know how to do it.”

Malone retorts: “You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife; you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital; you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago Way….”

But with all due respect to our wonderful city, it’s not the way of Jesus. In our gospel reading, he insists on the exact opposite:

• Turn the other cheek.
• Give someone the shirt off your back.
• Go the extra mile.

In doing so, he digs deep into his Jewish roots and the Mosaic Law. In our first reading from the Book of Leviticus, part of the Torah, God tells us to refrain from hatred, revenge and grudges. Even when we find it necessary to correct someone, we have to be careful how we do it.

We do this for two reasons. First, every person, St. Paul tells the church at Corinth, is a temple of the Spirit. Second, we do so not only because of who we are but because of who God is. Psalm 103 reminds that the Lord is kind, merciful, and slow to anger. God pardons, heals and redeems us and crowns us with kindness and compassion.

Too often the world lives by what Jim Malone called “the Chicago Way.” We see the terrible results in continued gang warfare and bloodshed on our streets; in civil conflicts in the nations in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa; and in the dysfunctions that plague our governments at so many levels. We even see it at times in the Church.

None of it is the way of Jesus. Every time we look at him on the crucifix, we are reminded how he practiced what he preached:

• He loved his enemies and prayed that God would forgive them.
• He offered not only his cheek but his back to those who beat him.
• His tunic was taken from him and soldiers drew lots to see who would get it.
• He went the extra mile not only to Calvary but after his resurrection with two of his followers on the road to Emmaus.

In a few days we begin the season of Lent. May we turn away from “the Chicago Way” and choose the Way of the Cross. +