From: Luke 6:27-38
Love of Enemies
[32] “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For
even sinners love those who love them. [33] And if you do good to
those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners
do the same. [34] And if you lend to those from whom you hope to
receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to
receive as much again. [35] But love your enemies, and do good, and
lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and
you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and
the selfish. [36] Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
[37] “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will
not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; [38] give, and it
will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together,
running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will
be the measure you get back.”
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Commentary:
27. “In loving our enemies there shines forth in us some likeness to
God our Father, who, by the death of His Son, ransomed from everlasting
perdition and reconciled to Himself the human race, which previously
was most unfriendly and hostile to Him” (”St. Pius V Catechism”, IV,
14, 19). Following the example of God our Father, we must desire for
everyone (even those who say they are our enemies) eternal life, in the
first place; additionally, a Christian has a duty to respect and
understand everyone without exception, because of his or her intrinsic
dignity as a human person, made in the image and likeness of the
Creator.
28. Jesus Christ teaches us by example that this is a real precept and
not just a pious recommendation; even when nailed to the cross He
prayed to His Father for those who had brought Him to such a pass:
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). In
imitation of the Master, St Stephen, the first martyr of the Church,
when he was being stoned, prayed to our Lord not to hold the sin
against his persecutors (cf. Acts 7:60). In the liturgy of Good Friday
the Church offers prayers and suffrages to God on behalf of those
outside the Church, asking Him to give them the grace of faith; to
release from their ignorance those who do not know Him; to give Jews
the light to the truth; to bring non-Catholic Christians, linked by
true charity, into full communion with our Mother the Church.
29. Our Lord gives us more examples to show us how we should act if
we want to imitate the mercy of God. The first has to do with one of what
are traditionally called the “spiritual works of mercy”—forgiving injuries
and being patient with other people’s defects. This is what He means
in the first instance about turning the other cheek.
To understand what our Lord is saying here, St. Thomas comments that
“Sacred Scripture needs to be understood in the light of the example of
Christ and the saints. Christ did not offer the cheek to be struck in
the house of Annas (Jn 18:22ff), nor did St. Paul when, as we are told
in the Acts of the Apostles, he was beaten in Philippi (Acts 16:22f).
Therefore, we should not take it that Christ literally meant that you
should offer the other cheek to some to hit you; what He was referring
to was your interior disposition; that is, if necessary we should be
ready not to be intolerant of anyone who hurts us, and we should be
ready to put up with this kind of treatment, or worse than that. That
was how the Lord acted when He surrendered His body to death”
(”Commentary on St John”, 18, 37).
36. The model of mercy which Christ sets before us is God Himself, of
whom St. Paul says, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us
in all our afflictions” (2 Cor 1:3-4). “The first quality of this virtue”, Fray
Luis de Granada explains, “is that it makes men like God and like
the most glorious thing in Him, His mercy (Lk 6:36). For certainly
the greatest perfection a creature can have is to be like his Creator,
and the more like Him he is, the more perfect he is. Certainly one
of the things which is most appropriate to God is mercy, which is
what the Church means when it says that prayer: ‘Lord God, to
whom it is proper to be merciful and forgiving...’. It says that this
is proper to God, because just as a creature, as creature, is
characteristically poor and needy (and therefore characteristically
receives and does not give), so, on the contrary, since God is
infinitely rich and powerful, to Him alone does it belong to give and
not to receive, and therefore it is appropriate for Him to be merciful
and forgiving” (”Book of Prayer and Meditation”, third part, third
treatise).
This is the rule a Christian should apply: be compassionate towards
other people’s afflictions as if they were one’s own, and try to remedy
them. The Church spells out this rule by giving us a series of
corporal works of mercy (visiting and caring for the sick, giving food
to the hungry, drink to the thirsty...) and spiritual works of mercy
(teaching the ignorant, correcting the person who has erred, forgiving
injuries...): cf. “St Pius X Catechism”, 944f.
We should also show understanding towards people who are in error:
“Love and courtesy of this kind should not, of course, make us
indifferent to truth and goodness. Love, in fact, impels the followers
of Christ to proclaim to all men the truth which saves. But we must
distinguish between the error (which must always be rejected) and the
person in error, who never loses his dignity as a person even though he
flounders amid false or inadequate religious ideas. God alone is the
judge and searcher of hearts; He forbids us to pass judgment on the
inner guilt of others” (Vatican II, “Gaudium Et Spes”, 28).
38. We read in Sacred Scripture of the generosity of the widow of
Zarephath, whom God asked to give food to Elijah the prophet even
though she had very little left; He then rewarded her generosity by
constantly renewing her supply of meal and oil (1 kings 17:9ff). The
same sort of thing happened when the boy supplied the five loaves
and two fish which our Lord multiplied to feed a huge crowd of people
(cf. Jn 6:9)—a vivid example of what God does when we give Him
whatever we have, even if it does not amount to much.
God does not let Himself be outdone in generosity: “Go, generously
and like a child ask Him, ‘What can You mean to give me when You
ask me for “this”?’” ([St] J. Escriva, “The Way”, 153). However much
we give God in this life, He will give us more in life eternal.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
| First reading | Colossians 3:12 - 17 © |
|---|---|
| You are God’s chosen race, his saints; he loves you, and you should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same. Over all these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together as parts of one body. Always be thankful. Let the message of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you. Teach each other, and advise each other, in all wisdom. With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God; and never say or do anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. |
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| Psalm or canticle | Psalm 150 |
|---|---|
| Praise the Lord | |
| Praise the Lord in his sanctuary, praise him in his mighty firmament. Praise him for his mighty deeds, praise him for all his greatness. Praise him with trumpet-blasts, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dance, praise him with strings and pipes, praise him with cymbals resounding, praise him with cymbals of jubilation. All that breathes, praise the Lord! |
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| Gospel | Luke 6:27 - 38 © |
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| Jesus said: ‘But I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To the man who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek too; to the man who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from the man who robs you. Treat others as you would like them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what thanks can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. Instead, love your enemies and do good, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. ‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.’ |
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