Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who
hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who
curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
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. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one
who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to
you. 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. 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. 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. Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.
“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be
forgiven. 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:
The story is told of a man who would
always feel pain in his heart whenever he saw his sister, who had wronged him.
It was like that for many years until he had a near-fatal heart attack. He
reflected deeply on what had happened to him and finally decided to forgive his
sister.
What will liberate us from hatred and
negative emotion? Its forgiveness and love. The moment we truly forgive and
love every form of hatred and negativity disappears in our hearts. We become
free we exude nothing but positive aura. But human as we are we from time to
time succumb to hatred thus we allow it to control us instead of us controlling
it.
What is the cure for hatred? Its love,
forgiveness and humility; these three can conquer hatred. And it can free us
from emotions that bring nothing to us but sickness, disgust and negativity.
This could even result to the disruption of our day hence we will not be able
to function properly.
In our gospel reading Jesus tells us to
love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us,
to pray for those who mistreat us (Luke 6:27-28). Difficult as it may seem;
nonetheless if we want to be free from the enslavement of Satan, hatred and
negative emotions, we have to follow what Jesus is telling us.
It’s only through forgiveness and humility
that we would be free from hatred. It’s only through the way of love that we
could become true followers of Jesus. There’s no other way but the way of love,
humility and forgiveness.
Would you be willing to forgive those
who’ve done you wrong? - Marino J.
Dasmarinas