Daily Reading
First Reading
Deuteronomy 26:16-19
This very day the Lord your God is commanding you to observe these statutes and ordinances; so observe them diligently with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you have obtained the Lord’s agreement: to be your God; and for you to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and to obey him. Today the Lord has obtained your agreement: to be his treasured people, as he promised you, and to keep his commandments; for him to set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in fame and in honor; and for you to be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.
Psalm
Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8
Happy are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord.
Happy are those who keep his decrees,
who seek him with their whole heart,
You have commanded your precepts
to be kept diligently.
O that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping your statutes!
I will praise you with an upright heart,
when I learn your righteous ordinances.
I will observe your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.
Gospel Reading
Matthew 5:43-48
“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 children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Reflection
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus commands us to love our enemies.
The first reason we love our enemies is because this is the best way to test the quality of our love. Love is not primarily an emotion but an act of the will. It is willing the good of the other as other.
A second reason to love your enemies is that they tell you about yourself. There is a very good chance that the people who most bother you are those who most reveal to you unsavory truths about yourself.
Third, perhaps the person you consider your enemy is actually pointing out to you the inadequacy of your own life. Maybe he is right and good, and it’s you who are off-center. Could it be that your enemy is in fact a kind of saint who is indirectly indicating your own weakness and lack of moral courage?
A final reason to love your enemies: You might win them back.