“Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; rend your hearts, not your garments.”

In this Sunday’s Gospel, we encounter part of the Sermon on the Mount—the Lord’s most profound teaching. Here, the Lord addresses three specific commandments regarding murder, adultery, and swearing.

Today’s Gospel continues the Sermon on the Mount, following immediately after the Beatitudes. In this passage, the Lord uses two powerful images to describe His followers: salt and light.

The Beatitudes describe a variety of human conditions: poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, hunger for justice, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, and persecution. Despite their different outward forms, these states share a common essence—they all emerge from a place of profound hardship and affliction.

As the Lord began His public ministry, He recognized the need to establish a home outside of Nazareth.

Prior to the fall, Adam and Eve existed in a state of grace far removed from the brokenness of modern humanity. Their hearts were equipped to always do good