Both readings today present us with a contrast between the Old Testament and the New. The gospel, from the Sermon on the Mount, tells us that our holiness must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees. How? By stressing interior attitudes more than external performance. The latter is important and valuable, but only if it flows from a sincere heart. And such a heart must be forgiving, reconciling, in imitation of the God who has forgiven us.

In the course of history the Sermon on the Mount has been seen as beautifully inspiring, but also as impossible to live fully. Perhaps Paul, in the first reading gives us the answer to this challenge. He was a Jewish rabbi before his conversion, and he often uses the rabbinical style of argument: using Old Testament figures and stories as symbols of our call to holiness. He says Moses' face was "veiled" when he came from encountering God on the mountain, whereas we Christians have seen the full glory of the face of God, "unveiled" in the face of Jesus His Son.

The unveiling is God's work, not ours. Everything is grace. And because of this, the Sermon on the Mount is realistic and possible. God can do in us what we cannot do ourselves. Jesus' real command is to open ourselves to the working of grace in our hearts. If we do so, then we discover, as Jesus tells Peter after the incident of the rich young man, "what is impossible to human beings is possible to God". With Paul we proclaim: