Last Updated on January 26, 2023 by GMC
23rd Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday (Year II)
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… Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.”
The Father sent his Son into the world to transform it by union with himself, energizing the very dust of the cosmos with the breath of the Holy Spirit. The second person of the Trinity became an individual among individuals to lead us beyond the empirical boundaries of individuation to the authentic freedom of personhood.
Christ’s forgiveness of his enemies from the Cross tore down dividing walls and invited reconciliation with himself, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Love overcame the fear of death, for other persons were his very life. Jesus’ whole being cried out for the restoration of a divided, ego-centered humanity.
The permeable communion of persons in communion infinitely surpasses the society of bounded egos. One’s own good and the good of others is one and the same good. Persons conceived in the Womb of the Father are selfless like himself and good “to the bone.” When we see other persons as one with us in the same Immaculate Womb, “enemies” become children of the Father.
The Holy Spirit alone can divinize our nature so that love becomes first nature and first impulse. Confidence in the Holy Spirit’s transforming power is a first step to cooperating with divine grace.
Thank you Gloria. Union with the Loving Trinity is the only way that we can truly be human brethren to each other. Only this way can we begin to stop this cycle of resentment and vendetta. Only through daily prayer can we allow the Spirit of Love to shine within us and gradually transform us and our wounded world.
May Christ’s prayer, “that they may be one, as we are one” (John 17:22) become reality by the Holy Spirit. With God all things are possible (Luke 1:37; Matthew 19:26).
I have always found it to be a wonderful experience when my enemies become my friends. In the sharing of a friendship, together, we find the Trinity. Thank you for giving me thought to appreciate my friendships.