Reflection for September 10 Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time: Luke 6:27-38

Gospel: Luke 6:27-38

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 anger whenever he saw his sister, who had wronged him. This went on for many years until he suffered 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 emotions? It is forgiveness and love. The moment we sincerely forgive and choose to love, hatred and negativity begin to lose their grip on our hearts. We become free. Instead of allowing bitterness to consume us, we begin to experience the peace that comes when we surrender our hurts to God. We learn that forgiveness is not merely something we do for others; it is also a gift we give ourselves.

Yet, as human beings, we sometimes succumb to hatred, anger, and resentment. We allow these emotions to control us instead of taking control of them. When we hold on to our hurts, we carry a burden that God never intended us to carry forever. Bitterness can quietly take root in our hearts, steal our peace, affect our relationships, and even prevent us from fully appreciating the blessings that God continues to give us.

What, then, is the cure for hatred? It is love, forgiveness, and humility. These three powerful virtues can conquer hatred and free us from emotions that bring us nothing but pain, negativity, and inner turmoil. When hatred occupies our hearts, it can disrupt our daily lives and prevent us from living with the peace and joy that God desires for us.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus tells us to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who mistreat us (Luke 6:27–28). Difficult as this teaching may seem, we are called to embrace it if we truly desire to live as followers of Christ. Jesus is inviting us to rise above hatred and retaliation and to respond to evil with goodness, anger with gentleness, and hatred with love.

This does not mean that what others have done to us is acceptable, nor does forgiveness mean that we should allow ourselves to be hurt repeatedly. Rather, forgiveness means surrendering our anger and resentment to God and refusing to remain prisoners of the wounds of our past. Sometimes forgiveness is a process. We may need to ask God repeatedly for the grace to forgive until our hearts are finally healed.

There may be people whom we find difficult to forgive. There may be wounds that remain painful even after many years. But Jesus does not ask us to carry these wounds alone. When we humble ourselves and bring our pain before Him, He can slowly transform our wounded hearts and fill them with His healing love.

It is through forgiveness and humility that we begin to experience freedom from hatred. It is through the way of love that we become true followers of Jesus. There is no other path to genuine Christian freedom than the path of love, humility, and forgiveness.

Let us therefore examine our hearts. Is there someone we continue to resent? Is there a name that still causes pain whenever we hear it? Is there a wound that we have carried for far too long?

Let us place that person, that painful memory, and that wounded part of our hearts into the loving hands of Jesus. We may not be able to erase the past, but with God's grace, we can choose not to remain imprisoned by it.

Are we willing to surrender our hatred, forgive those who have wounded us, and allow the love of Jesus to set our hearts free?—Marino J. Dasmarinas