“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” – Matthew 5:44

     “If you’re horrible to me, I’m going to write a song about it, and you won’t like it. That’s how I operate.”

       I couldn’t help chuckling when I read this quotable quote from young, beautiful singing sensation Taylor Swift.

       I am a writer. I blog. And I admit, I am sometimes tempted to operate like Taylor Swift says she does. You know — when people do horrible things to me, I feel like writing something they won’t like.

       I’ve had my share of rejections and persecutions. I get angry. I weep and gnash my teeth. I rant to someone who would empathize with me, take my side. I rant and rant before God.

      And then, I somehow hear today’s reading: “Love your enemies.” I roll my eyes and rant some more — that what God is telling me to do is not that easy.

     But at the end of the day, all I do is this: write — not my actual rantings — but just how I rant.

    And well, I pray today’s Psalm 51… Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love… Cynthia U. Santiago (cusantiago@gmail.com)

Reflection: For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? (Matthew 5:46)

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

Elijah prophesies horrible and dishonorable deaths for Ahab and Jezebel. In a world where “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” is the measure of justice, there is a certain justice in their deaths. However, revenge, punishment and payback can never restore the original life that was unjustly chosen. Revenge never makes anything right.

17 After the death of Naboth the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite: 18 “Start down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He will be in the vineyard of Naboth, of which he has come to take possession. 19 This is what you shall tell him, ‘The Lord says: After murdering, do you also take possession? For this, the Lord says: In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall lick up your blood, too.’” 20 Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me out, my enemy?” “Yes,” he answered. “Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the Lord’s sight, 21 I am bringing evil upon you: I will destroy you and will cut off every male in Ahab’s line, whether slave or freeman, in Israel. 22 I will make your house like that of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and like that of Baasha, son of Ahijah, because of how you have provoked me by leading Israel into sin.” 23 (Against Jezebel, too, the Lord declared, “The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.”) 24 “When one of Ahab’s line dies in the city, dogs will devour him; when one of them dies in the field, the birds of the sky will devour him.” 25 Indeed, no one gave himself up to the doing of evil in the sight of the Lord as did Ahab, urged on by his wife Jezebel. 26 He became completely abominable by following idols, just as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord drove out before the children of Israel. 27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments and put on sackcloth over his bare flesh. He fasted, slept in the sackcloth, and went about subdued. 28 Then the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, 29 “Have you seen that Ahab has humbled himself before me? Since he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his time. I will bring the evil upon his house during the reign of his son.”

P S A L M 

Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 11, 16

R: Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

1 [3] Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. 2 [4] Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me. (R) 3 [5] For I acknowledge my offense, and my sin is before me always. 4 [6] Against you only have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight. (R) 9 [11] Turn away your face from my sins, and blot out all my guilt. 14 [16] Free me from blood guilt, O God, my saving God; then my tongue shall revel in your justice. (R)

GOSPEL

Jesus calls us to perfection. If He made this call, then it is possible to achieve it. Let us surrender to the grace of holiness so that we can grow in perfection every day. May we forget the hurts of the past and look to the promise of a new and brighter future as we grow in discipleship.

I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.

43 Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? 48 So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

think: Let us surrender to the grace of holiness so that we can grow in perfection every day.

Thank You Lord for: __________________

AN INCLUSIVE AND COMPREHENSIVE LOVE

Jesus is at it again with His new standards of the law, particularly regarding the love of enemies.

       In a sense, the old Jewish law probably had a point. For how does one really come to love his or her enemy? Even just the joining of the two words sounds absurd: “love of enemies.” One’s love will naturally and exclusively gravitate only to his or her “neighbors” or friends. Anyone outside one’s circle of friends, acquaintances, relatives and neighbors might as well be treated an “enemy” — simply understood in the Jewish mind as an outsider or a stranger, with no rights to one’s love and affection.

       But there lies the problem. If one merely follows his or her natural propensities or tendencies, then it’s probably OK. But we must keep in mind that we have a higher possibility available, thanks to God’s bountiful graces and blessings. Thanks to such grace, we can go yonder — to a higher level of love. This higher love is more encompassing (not selective), more inclusive (not for just a fortunate few selected ones), and without conditions (not for those who have special privileges and entitlements to wield).

       And that last point is the context of that often misunderstood last verse. It is not so much perfection that is being demanded of us, for only God is perfect, and we may not even approximate such an exclusive attribute of God. In the context of inclusive and comprehensive love, the challenge that Jesus poses to us is to imitate God in that kind of love.

       Let us not be content with a minimal type of love which barely measures up to the possibilities that God is opening to us. Let that love of His be ours as well. Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB

REFLECTION QUESTION: Who do you find most difficult to love? Today, pray for that person and ask God for the grace to love him or her.

Enlarge my heart, O Lord, that I may be able to love like You do. Amen.