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 and sisters
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:
What is genuine
love? It’s a love that doesn’t discriminate a love that embraces everybody
including those who are not lovable to our eyes. The beauty of loving even
those who do not love us is we show them what true love is all about. True love
that emanates from Jesus Himself.
When we love even
those who are not lovable we don’t only give them our unconditional love. We
also teach them to give love, never mind if they will not love us in return.
What is important is we teach them the language of unconditional love so that
they will learn from it and hopefully be converted by it.
But is unconditional
love still relevant today? For many of us today love is a two way street: You
love me and I give you love in return if you will not love me I will not give
you my love. But if this is our mentality the language of true love will not
anymore have life. There would be no more true love and true sacrifice for the
person that we love.
True love or genuine
love therefore is to love without any condition/s and to love without expecting
love in return. Hard to do, right? But if we truly love Jesus we would be able
to freely give love, love which is not bound by the laws of reciprocity. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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