GOSPEL OF THE DAY

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.”

The Word of the Lord

 

Giving Without Expecting Anything in Return

Jesus does not merely speak about feeling love for those who hurt us. He invites us not to repay evil with evil, but to respond to those who hurt us with goodness; to place those who have wounded us into God’s hands; and to make love of neighbour a concrete rule of life, imitating the way God treats us.

True Christian love is revealed when we give without expecting anything in return, and the mercy we extend to others gradually transforms our own hearts.

A marriage is not sustained because spouses find it easy to love one another. Rather, it endures when they learn to love each other through difficulties, in those moments when the other person hurts us, disappoints us, or simply becomes difficult to love.

It is very easy for a marriage to fall into the mindset of treating the other person exactly as they treat us, of responding to hurt with hurt. But Jesus calls us to treat others as we would want them to treat us.

Mercy means looking at the other person not only through the lens of their mistakes and failures, but also with an awareness of their weakness, their weariness, their past, and their sins. In doing so, we begin to see them with the same compassion and understanding that God shows to us.

 

Applied to Married Life

Ralph: Hi Rose, I’m home now. How was your first day back at work after the holidays?

Rose: It’s so good to have you home. Well, my first day was a bit difficult. I’ve already had a major disagreement with a colleague, and it’s not the first time.

Ralph: You must be joking. The same colleague who got you caught up in that conflict with your manager? I thought you’d sorted things out.

Rose: The very same. I can’t believe it was her, but she’s done something quite damaging and made me look bad in front of the whole team. I’m already thinking of ways to pay her back in kind.

Ralph: I don’t think it’s quite as bad as that. Besides, you know that responding badly to someone who has hurt you doesn’t do you any good. Quite the opposite, in fact. In the end, you always come out better when you treat others the way you would like to be treated.

Rose: That’s easy to say when it hasn’t happened to you. But this time she’s really crossed the line, and we’re right back where we were before. On other occasions I’ve let it go, and it achieved nothing. In fact, talking things through with her helped at the time, but it seems to have made no difference at all.

Ralph: Don’t forget what we used to be like. We would react to each other based on what we received from one another. But now we don’t wait for the other person to make the first move before doing something good. Instead, we both give our all so that we can live in harmony, even though we still make plenty of mistakes.

Rose: You’re right, Ralph. I’ve come home very angry, and I’m not acting in the way I know I should. My first instinct, in my weakness, is to treat her just as badly as she’s treated me. But I’m sure there must be a reason why she’s behaving this way. Tomorrow I’ll speak to her and see if we can sort it out.

Ralph: That’s my girl, always willing to give everything for others regardless of how they treat you. You show me that every day, and it helps me enormously in my own daily life.

 

Mother,

help us to love as Christ teaches us, even when it is difficult. Blessed be God.