Sunday, July 9, 2017

Sermon for Dominica V post Pentecosten: "unless your righteousness exceeds that of of the scribes and Pharisees"

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
Matt 5:20-24
At that time, Jesus said unto His disciples: Unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. And so on.

Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.
Bk. i. on the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, ch. 9.
Thou shalt not kill, is of the righteousness of the Pharisees; Thou shalt not be angry with thy brother without a cause, is of the righteousness of them which shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. The least therefore is: “Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall break this commandment, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.” v. 19.But whosoever shall do it, and not kill, he is not therefore great, and meet for the kingdom of heaven; albeit, he hath risen a step; but he will have gotten farther, if he be not angry with his brother without a cause, which, if he do, he will be the farther off from manslaughter. Wherefore, He Which teacheth us that we are not to be angry without a cause, destroyeth not the law, Thou shalt not kill, but rather fulfilleth and increaseth it, making us not only to be free of the sin of outward killing, but also clean of anger within.

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