Thursday of Week 23 in Ordinary Time
Col 3:12-17
Lk 6:27-38
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will to be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned.”
Yikes! If you thought the Beatitudes were a high calling, today’s Gospel is a whopper. It is so much easier to say than to do.
Ask yourselves this, how many times you have judged someone simply based on their clothes, their work, their address…and the list goes on. How many times have you gotten mad at someone who cut you off in traffic and uttered or thought some pretty mean things about that person. I know I have done plenty of both – judging and condemning others.
And those that I judge or condemn are not even my enemies! They are simply people who cross my life at different times and places.
Love my enemies? How do I do that? It seems impossible, but just remember that Christ set an example for us. He suffered the most heinous torture, humiliation and terrible death; yet he still prayed for His betrayers and asked God to forgive them when He was on the Cross.
You may think — that is because He is God! Of course, He can forgive and love infinitely! My friends, you are forgetting that Christ is not asking us to do anything alone. He promised to be with us, through thick and thin, to give us strength when we are weak. No, we are not alone since we would not be able to do any forgiving on our own.
Here is something that I have encountered and pondered over. When someone has offended or hurt us immeasurably, we don’t have to pretend that we are not hurt or angry. All Jesus asked is that we go to Him and bring it to Him. Let Him heal our wounds and empower us to forgive. This may take time, but our Lord is with us every step of the way. He only asks us to share and bring all of ourselves to Him, our joys, sorrows, wounds, etc. That is the most crucial step. The rest will come with time.
The old adage “do unto others as you want others to do unto you”, is really good advice. We all fail and offend others sometimes. So if we cannot forgive those who offend us, how can we, serial offenders, dare to ask God for forgiveness?
(Today’s OXYGEN by Winnie Kung)
Prayer: My most compassionate Lord, please give us the grace of forgiveness. Help us to forgive as You have forgiven our iniquities.
Thanksgiving: Heavenly Father, we thank you for Your infinite love and mercy. Your compassion surpasses all understanding.
OXYGEN 
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