VII Sunday of the Year

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38

Readings for the VII Sunday of the Year

Martin Luther King Jr wrote (in/from jail!) about loving enemies: “This is not practical; life is a matter of getting even, of hitting back… We have followed the so-called practical way for too long, and it has led inexorably to deeper confusion and chaos. Time is cluttered with the wreckage of communities which surrendered to hatred and violence. For the salvation of our nation and the salvation of humankind, we must follow another way. This does not mean that we abandon our righteous efforts. With every ounce of our energy, we must continue to rid this nation of the incubus of segregation. But we shall not in the process relinquish our privilege and our obligation to love. While abhorring segregation, we shall love the segregationist. This is the only way to create the beloved community.”

Luther was commenting on the “impractical” way Jesus preached in his sermon on the plain. Love of enemies is contrary to every natural impulse. Jesus teaches us to remain loving even when others treat us in an unloving manner. There will be times when we need to protect ourselves against evil. But in and with love.

A massive challenge! How can we love people who have hurt/ oppressed us? How can we love our enemies when everything inside us makes us want to hurt them back?

The response, indicated by scripture and by the life of Jesus, is that we can love those for whom we feel no love when we decide to do so. Love is not a feeling; it is a choice and a decision to do right even when wronged; to do good even when bad is done; to bless even when cursed; to forgive even when condemned.

Love is a commitment to the good of another. We have an example in the First Reading: David refuses to harm Saul, to put a spear through the heart of his sleeping enemy. 

How do we love our enemies when we do not feel like loving them? In the way that we wake up in the morning when we feel like sleeping; in the way that we work when we feel like relaxing. We just do it. We decide and follow through. Authentic love is hard work!

Who are my enemies whom I need to love? Will I choose and decide to love them and follow through on that decision? How will I manifest my love for them?

VI Sunday of the Year

BLESSED VERSUS CURSED

Jeremiah 17:5-8; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6:17, 20-26

Readings for the VI Sunday of the Year

A preacher asked for a show of hands from all in the congregation who would love to be poor, hungry, weeping, and hated. No hand went up. Then he asked of those who would love to be rich, well fed, laughing, and well-spoken of. All hands went up. What would my response be?

Popular culture is quick to counsel us that we will be happy if only we can get that latest gadget, the new house, the swankiest vehicle, and so on.  It is seductive.

Yet, in today’s Gospel, Jesus declares a blessing on those who are poor, hungry, weeping, and hated. He then pronounces a woe on those who are rich, well fed, laughing, and well-spoken of. 

Does Jesus mean poverty is a sign of divine approval and prosperity a sign of divine disapproval? Certainly, not! Poverty, hunger, weeping, and hatred are all misfortunes; no good parents would want these for their children. Neither would God, our loving parent, want these for us. 

How are we then to understand the beatitudes? 

The first key is at the end of the last beatitude: “on account of the Son of Man.” Those who accept these as the price for following Jesus are the blessed ones. The passage immediately preceding today’s gospel is the call of the twelve. Today’s text is like an appointment letter; it has the terms and conditions of being apostles! The beatitudes are the direct consequences of discipleship. To be an apostle of Jesus meant instant membership in the club of the poor, the hated, the reviled, the excluded.

The second key is in understanding “poor”. The poor are the ‘anawim’ – a small group of people who, despite difficulties and trials, have been faithful to God’s covenant. They have no resources to meet their needs, recognize their total dependence on God, and trust in him. Those who are ‘blessed’ have put their trust in God; those to whom Jesus says ‘woe’ trust in the material. 

Jeremiah prophesies in the first reading: “cursed is the man who trusts in humans… blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.”

The liturgy today challenges us with choices: blessed vs cursed; trust in God vs trust in myself. What’s my choice?

V Sunday of the Year

CALLED!

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11

Readings for the V Sunday of the Year

A man in the choir couldn’t sing well. The conductor asked him to leave the choir. He refused. The conductor complained to the pastor: “You’ve got to get that man out of the choir; else I’m resigning.” The pastor spoke to the man and gently suggested that he leave the choir. The man asked: “Why?” The pastor said: “Four or five people have told me you can’t sing.” The man replied: “That’s nothing! Fifty people have told me you can’t preach!” 

Competence is not a criterion the Lord uses when he calls people. He often calls the most unlikely people! Today’s readings describe the call of Isaiah, of Paul, of Peter; each felt unworthy in God’s presence. When they confessed their inadequacy before God, God made them ready to serve him. A seraph touched Isaiah’s lips with a burning coal from the altar and said: “Your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” To Simon Peter, Jesus said: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 

Availability and the readiness to follow God’s directives are other qualities these three have in common. Isaiah promptly responded to the Lord: “Here am I; send me!” Paul was full of zeal and worked harder than all those who were called before him. Peter and his partners “left everything and followed” Jesus.

When we follow the guidance of the Lord, we achieve mind-blowing results. Peter and his men toiled all night long and caught nothing. When they followed the Lord’s guidance which, humanly speaking, did not make much sense (fishermen did not set the net in broad daylight), the result was a miraculous haul of fish.

The Lord continues to ask: “Whom shall I send?” He still needs messengers (like Isaiah) to proclaim his Good News in the temple; (like Paul) to announce it in foreign lands; (like Peter) to speak for him in the workplace and bring one’s coworkers to follow the Lord. 

I may feel unworthy and incompetent for the work of God. But… am I available? If so, the Lord will qualify me for his mission, as he did with Isaiah, Paul, and Peter.

The Presentation of the Lord

RECOGNIZING THE EXTRAORDINARY

Malachi 3:1-4; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40

Readings for the Presentation of the Lord

In November 2003, Elizabeth Gibson noticed a painting between garbage bags set out for collection. Ms Gibson, who knew little about modern art, said she took it home because “even though I didn’t understand it, I knew it had power.” That painting was Rufino Tamayo’s abstract masterpiece “Tres Personajes” which had been stolen twenty years earlier. On 20 November 2007, Sotheby’s auctioned it for more than one million dollars. Several people must have seen the painting (and one even trashed it) but only Ms Gibson recognized the extraordinary.

Something similar happened a couple of millennia ago in Jerusalem.

The busy temple of Jerusalem must have been filled with hundreds of people—priests and scripture scholars, pilgrims and worshippers… and many of them must have seen an infant with his parents. Only two senior citizens—Simeon and Anna—recognized the extraordinary in the ordinary infant and his ordinary parents who made the ordinary offering of the poor.

Simeon and Anna were the “anawim” who had neither power nor prestige but had deep faith. Simeon was “righteous and devout… and the Holy Spirit was upon him” and Anna “worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer”. This rootedness in God and their faith enabled them to recognize the extraordinary in the ordinary and the divine in the human.

Each one of us is ordinary; yet, we have in us the extraordinary and the divine. Do you and I recognize the extraordinary and the divine in ourselves and in others? Or do we treat ourselves and others as trash?

May the Spirit in us and our eyes of faith help us recognize the extraordinary and the divine in us!