Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

By REV. FR. SAMUEL FREDERICK

Lev. 19:1-2.17-18, 1 Cor. 3:16-23, Mt. 5:38-48. Being the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, the Church invites us to reflect on the attributes of God: Love, Compassion and Mercy. Today’s first reading focuses strongly on the love of our neighbours. It suffices to note that it did not specify any condition that our neighbours must meet before we could love them. In order words, it has to be unconditional. In the second reading, Paul exalts us and advanced an argument in order to help us live in love as one family. Hence, he reminds us that we are God’s Temple, that is, house of love. So, we are not to destroy this Temple because it belongs to Christ. The Temple could be destroyed if it lacks love, but harbours division and hatred. In today's Gospel, Jesus continues His teaching on the commands of love. He takes love to another dimension: “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you…” Jesus tells us the reason we find it very hard to imitate God who forgives, is because God has no enemies. Moments we make enemies for ourselves prevent true love. Often we fail to see deeper inside the people that annoy us, the people that we alienate, the people that we feel are doing us harm. Jesus said at the end: “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” However, we forget that the perfection of God is not that He knows and sees all things alone. The perfection of God according to the Jews is God and only God, forgives. As long as He forgives, we have hope that God will reach down and bring us together as true brothers and sisters. May the Lord inspire us to love without reservation so that we can truly and genuinely forgive those who harm us! Amen!! Good morning and happy Sunday!!!

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