From the responsorial psalm: “O LORD, you have probed me and you know me; you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, with all my ways you are familiar. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:27-38)
“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.”
Jesus models for us the way to treat not only those we love but our enemies as well. In Matthew, Jesus tells us that God “grants his gifts of sun and rain to both the good and the bad.” Before Jesus calls us to the higher standard of being merciful just as his Father is merciful, he tells us to give, expecting nothing back. As difficult as that—even in the mistreatment we receive from those closest to us—the reward is great. It fulfills the purpose for which the Father sent the Son—that we will become children of the Most High.
Father in heaven, as Jesus asks us to be merciful as you are merciful, twice he says, “Love your enemies.” In a task that is impossible if left to myself, through Jesus Christ your Son, give me the grace to offer genuine forgiveness to those who have wronged me and be merciful to them. I am reminded of Saint Paul, who says, “yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me.” That is my sole hope in being merciful as you are merciful. Mary, through your intercession, help lead me always to your Son.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.