If Jesus posted, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” on social media today, I would’ve commented, “Golly gee, Lord!” (With matching eyeroll-up-to-the-ceiling emoji.) How can you love a neighbor who regularly plays blaring music, parties till 3 a.m., disrupts your work and sleep, and even gets mad when you complain? Or the woman who stole your husband? Or the coworker who backstabbed you for a promotion? Or the business partner who left you debts of staggering amounts? 

Jesus does ask us to do hard things. Even St. Teresa of Avila lamented, “If this is the way You treat Your friends, it’s no wonder You have so few.” 

The road to heaven is not an easy trek. A priest at Mass said: “Perfection cannot be attained without pain. It’s only painful in the beginning. Later, it becomes part of your system. It’s the same with praying for your enemies. And the key to perfection is: ‘Observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.’” 

So this Lent, let aiming for perfection be our sacrifice. Lella M. Santiago (lellams88@gmail.com)

reflect

Jesus went through perfect pain for us. Can we also share in a little of that by suffering through the practice of perfection? 

Only You are perfect, O Lord. Help us to practice to be perfect like You.

St. Louise de Marillac, pray for us.

Moses emphasizes to the people that the Laws of God are important; he reminds them that they have committed to follow Him. Laws serve as a guide for our behavior. Laws remind us of what it means to be in a relationship with God and others. All societies require laws to govern them. However, let us ensure that the laws exist to serve the people, and not the other way around.

¹⁶ Moses spoke to the people, saying: “This day the Lord, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹⁷ Today you are making this agreement with the Lord: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. ¹⁸ And today the Lord is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments, ¹⁹ he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the Lord, your God, as he promised.” 

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8

R: Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!

¹ Blessed are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. ² Blessed are they who observe his decrees, who seek him with all their heart. (R) ⁴ You have commanded that your precepts be diligently kept. ⁵ Oh, that I might be firm in the ways of keeping your statutes! (R) ⁷ I will give you thanks with an upright heart, when I have learned your just ordinances. ⁸ I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me. (R)

Gospel | Matthew 5:43-48

We are called to perfection. This indicates the power of the redemption Jesus has won for us. Do we strive for this daily, or do we struggle to live by our own strength? Living by faith is the smart way to live, but living by human willpower is foolish. Let us choose wisely and thus make our lives as simple and easy as possible.

Gospel Acclamation

Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

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 and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? ⁴⁸ So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Read the Bible in one year! Read GENESIS 13 - 15 today.

We sometimes question God why some “cafeteria” Catholics and even “nominal” ones are prospering while we, who claim to be “practicing” Catholics, eke our way out just to live decently. Is God unfair? Don’t we deserve to be blessed at least equally with them? What is the point of practicing the faith after all?

Stop. Even the way the sentences are framed already suggests a certain notion and judgment: that God rewards “the good” and punishes “the bad.” It is as if saying, “Because He is our God and we are His people, we do not deserve to struggle and suffer!” Prosperity and good life seem to be a reward dangled only for the “practicing” Catholics.

Yet, the Gospel clarifies: “He makes His sun rise on the bad and the good,and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” He says further, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” What do we make of this?

The cafeteria and nominal Catholics are equally His people as much as we are. Besides, who are we to judge them as nominal and cafeteria Catholics, and us as practicing? What we can hold on to is the truth that God provides us with the necessary and appropriate graces we need for perfection as He is perfect. 

This Lenten season, may we open our hearts, be vulnerable, and see all as God sees them—as His children, different but equitably loved. This is how God loves. And He has allowed us, “practicing” Catholics, to share in that mysterious love. After all, did He not just command us to be perfect as the Father is perfect—even in our loving? Fr. Bros Flores, SJ

reflection question

Have you been praying from the perspective of entitlement rather than of gratitude

Lord Jesus, may I count the blessings I have received rather than compare what I lack with what others have so that I may become more humble and grateful. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ___________________________________