A reading from the Gospel according to 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.”
Reflection:
Today we remember in our prayers the lives lost and the families affected by the tragic events of September 11, 2001, as well as all whose lives were taken because of acts of violence and war, senseless acts committed by enemies of peace.
We also honor all who work to save lives and serve as firefighters, paramedics and medical personnel, police, and all first responders. Thank you for your sacrifice, selfless acts of service to help, save, rescue and provide ways for everyone’s health, safety and security.
You most likely have experienced working with a difficult and challenging person.
A supervisor kept receiving complaints about an employee, who was unable to do certain tasks properly. The other co-workers shared that the employee was difficult to work with, did not have a good attitude when given suggestions, and was not doing their job properly.
So, the supervisor discussed the problem with one of their colleagues and said, “Well, I think that we should let the employee go.” But the colleague was prompted to share their feedback with the supervisor. “I think it will be better for the employee to be restored rather than let go. The employee has other talents.” The supervisor prayed and thought about it, then decided to reassign other tasks to the employee, and over time the difficult employee shined and became proficient with the new tasks that allowed their talents to shine. The employee was able to retain their job as the sole breadwinner to support the family and continued to do well and was not let go.
Our God is love and mercy.
In the gospel reading from Luke, our Lord Jesus implores us to love our enemies, to do good to them, to turn the other cheek, to lend to even to our enemies without expecting anything back.
I don’t know about everyone else, but this is a difficult task. How can we forgive the ones who are not nice to us or have wronged us? Who spoke badly about us. How can we love the ones who hurt us or our loved ones, who make us jobless, homeless or sad? How?
Encountering a difficult person or situation in life is inevitable. There will always be a challenging personality or experience in one’s life. And this is the reminder of God where we have to make a choice, we have to make a decision.
Whether we choose to love or not, it is easy to hate someone who hurt us, or gives us a very difficult time, who pains us, who hurts us constantly. And God is reminding us to choose love over hate. Is it difficult to choose love?
Yes, it is. Especially when you are in the midst of anger, pain, and suffering because of someone’s attitude or behavior towards us, or towards a situation. We turn on the news, we hear someone killed at church, at work, at school. And what drives it is that people choose not to forgive, not to love and make harsh decisions which lead us to sin and to our own mistakes.
On our own it is difficult to love and forgive the ones who have wronged us. Hurt and pain will not heal overnight. To forgive and heal will take time. We need Jesus’ help.
Jesus is our model of mercy. After he was taken, most of Jesus’ friends scattered and abandoned him. Jesus suffered for hours, was tortured, and died on a cross. And yet, Jesus forgave his disciples, Jesus loves, Jesus is merciful even to His enemies, to you and I, and all humankind, because of His great love for us. And Jesus was risen from the dead to show us the way.
As followers and children of God, over time with prayer and reflection, we can learn to forgive, love, and be merciful like Jesus, similar to how the supervisor was merciful in the story.
The memory of the painful incidents may not leave our minds, but with God’s help, we can heal, learn to share kindness, to forgive and love our enemies. We can also have hearts of love, kindness and mercy. Call on Jesus daily to show us how to do his loving ways.
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Thank you, Deacon Gregg. Happy to see you on Deacon 5! God bless. Joella
Thank you for praying with us, Joella! 😇🙏🏼