In the first reading from the book of Corinthians today, Saint Paul tells us about the new believers they encountered in the churches of Macedonia. The people totally amazed him with the abundance of joy they had while living in extreme poverty. Their joy overflowed in the giving of themselves and their resources to others without regard for themselves. The members of these churches willingly gave of themselves way beyond what was expected of them. Their joy was in being of service to the Lord and to his people, even a people they did not know. Saint Paul says they gave “of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints”. Saint Paul also reminds us that “our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” Christ gave everything he had, including his own life for us too, a people that was not yet born.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us “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, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” In one of the other Gospels Jesus told us the parable of the weeds in the wheat, that is very similar to what he teaches us in today’s Gospel. Jesus explained in the parable of the weeds and wheat, that God allows the weeds to live in the wheat until the final harvest and things would be sorted out then.
But, in today’s Gospel, Christ asks us to go further in our love for others than just tolerating the presence of people who are treating us badly. That’s hard enough to do sometimes. But, Christ asks us to take love a step further and to actually pray for those who hurt us. Can you imagine that? How many of us actually pray for the people that hurt us? If you do manage to pray for people who hurt you, then sometimes it may seem like cutting teeth at first to pray for them. It is difficult to pray for those people who cause us a lot of pain and suffering and many times we are barely able to pray for them. But, then it gets a little easier. Maybe that was the reason Christ said to do this. We are changed by our prayers. Prayer changes who we are. It changes us a little at a time to love like Christ loves. Our attitudes toward other people will change through prayer and eventually we will be able to love them the way Jesus does. Jesus loves people right where they are, in spite of the sinful state of their lives and we are called to do the same. The Lord always saw the person first, not their sin. He never excluded anyone, regardless as to their state in life or lack of holiness either. And that is something we all should try to work on too.
Something else to think about as we go about our day today, is to realize that Catholics can be kind of closed in on ourselves as a group. We are good to one another and very communal in the practice of the Catholic faith inside our churches. We are comfortable with people of our own faith but are not as open about our faith with the rest of the world. Catholics as a group are not very good at stepping out of the confines of our own Catholic community and talking to others about our faith. That might be a good thought for today. How can we share our faith with those around us a little more in our everyday lives?
