Gospel: Luke 6:27-38
(Jesus said to his
disciples 27 “But to you who hear I say,
love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you,
pray for those who mistreat you.29 To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not
withhold even your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one
who takes what is yours do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have
them do to you. 32 For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to
you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who
do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. 34 If you
lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit [is] that to
you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount. 35 But rather,
love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then
your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he
himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as
[also] your Father is merciful. 37 “Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be
forgiven.
38 Give and gifts
will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and
overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you
measure will in return be measured out to you.”
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Reflection:
All of us will agree
that we can easily love those who give us love in return. But are we willing to
love those who’ve hurt us or those who continue on hurting us? Mother Teresa
once said: “If you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more
love.” A wife or a husband who truly love will continue to love his/her spouse
notwithstanding the betrayal/s.
Many marriages fail
because we put limits on how we give love. For example if a wife discovers that
her husband is playing around with fire. The reaction of the wife is perhaps to
take revenge and play with fire also and not to anymore love her philandering
husband. But what will happen if we are like this? There would be many broken
marriages, there would be many suffering children simply because we put limits
on how we give our love.
Jesus in our gospel
is advising us to change this mindset of reactive love. To bring our
understanding of love to a much higher level; perhaps (If we can) to the level
of God’s love for us. But are we capable
of raising to a higher level our understanding of love and on how we give love?
If we truly love
Jesus we would be able to forgive and once again love a spouse who betrayed us.
We would be able to love our siblings/relatives who’ve hurt us and who don’t
want to listen to our well meaning advice/s. We would be able to love a friend
who betrayed our trust.
Jesus tells us in
the gospel: For if you love those who
love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same (Luke 6:32-33).
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