Tuesday of Week 11 in Ordinary Time
1 Kgs 21:17-29
Mt 5:43-48
“…love your enemies…”
Today’s gospel is oh-so-familiar to many of us. It often leaves me slightly uncomfortable, because the heart finds it hard to embrace what the head is registering as the words tumble out of the mouth of the priest, especially the line “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven…”. (Mt 5:44)
As a command, it is straightforward and very clear in its demands, but provocative in its inherent challenge. I can almost hear Jesus saying, “Child, you have been faithful, observing the Sabbath, loving your family and friends, welcoming to your fellow parishioners, kind to the poor..” . And you think this qualifies as ‘goodness’ and Christian love? It looks more like ‘reciprocity’, returning love and courtesy to those who are that way to you, with the token free choice to extend a little charity to the less fortunate from the excess you have. It is not the perfection I ask of you, because ‘even the pagans do as much.’
I think about my enemies – and honestly cannot call to mind any one I would label as such. Broadening my mental scan to those who have hurt me and who surface a certain resistance and aversion, I am able to come up with a few distinct names. I hear Jesus’ heart again, as he points to those and says gently, “How about you try to love that one? Go beyond suffering him silently, avoiding contact and carefully avoiding gossip about what has happened. Can you go a little further to love him? Even if from a distance. See him through my eyes, and for my sake; love him by sincerely desiring his good. Pray for him, by name. Not once, but commit to doing so daily even if you do not know what to ask for, because I do. Leave him with me. But pursue your prayer for him and his needs until something in you softens and you find yourself feeling more kindly towards him. Do this not because he has repented or shown remorse for hurting you, but simply because I love him too. Extending mercy and compassion will help you on your journey to perfection. Start here; and start today.”
It struck me that I often pray so idealistically to grow in God’s image and likeness. I wonder if God hasn’t already answered my prayer, pointing me to these enemies not as obstacles to holiness, but opportunities to grow in perfection. Do I desire perfection to feel good about myself, or will I still pursue that path in full awareness that it will feel a little like crucifixion? The Lord is inviting me to die to myself in all those areas that are antithetical to love.
Brothers and sisters, love is not about being nice and kind, but about being radical and loving everyone that the sun rises on, making a choice to will their good, even if affection is in short supply.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Corinne Cheok)
Prayer: Grant us the grace, O Lord to love everyone you place on my path. Strengthen my will to love my enemies and desire their good, recognising how you could never love them anything less than perfectly. Help me love like you.Thanksgiving: Thank you Lord, for gratuitously loving me, in all my brokenness, even when I do not love you in return. I cannot thank you enough for your lavish mercy, dying for me despite my sinfulness and poverty.
Thanksgiving: Thank you Lord, for gratuitously loving me, in all my brokenness, even when I do not love you in return. I cannot thank you enough for your lavish mercy, dying for me despite my sinfulness and poverty.
OXYGEN 
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