Gospel: Matthew
5:43-48
Jesus
said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your
neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you, 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. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will
you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers
only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect,
just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
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Reflection:
Would you
obey the command of Jesus to love and pray for your enemy?
Who are
we to not obey the command of Jesus to love even our enemy? We are mere mortals
and sinful beings of God. If God loves us unconditionally, why can’t we do the
same to our fellowmen?
Our problem is we give so much importance on
our high sense of ourselves, on our egos. That’s why we often times say, “If
you don’t love me I will not love you also.”, “If you’re angry with me, then I
would be angry with you also.” These kinds of reasoning are reasoning of a
person who is so full of himself.
The call
of Jesus for us it to do away with our very high regard of ourselves and this
would only be possible if we would become humble. Humility therefore is the key
factor for us to be able to follow this command of Jesus: To give
unconditionally love even to our enemies.
Let be
humility an integral part of our way of life. Let us always learn to reach-out,
let us always be forgiving and let us not harbor ill feelings to those who’ve
wronged us. If we’re able to do these, we can now say that we would be able to
love and pray for everyone… even our enemies. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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