February 22^nd 2020. Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Mt 5:38-48

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Mt 5:38-48

Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.
When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well.
If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well.
Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles.
Give to the one who asks of you,
and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.

“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus asks us to love our enemies. Does he really mean that? Maybe this text needs to be interpreted in a less radical way? How can we hope to forgive others the hurt they have done us? How can we learn to love unconditionally? But, if we think about it, each one of us longs to be loved, forgiven and accepted completely in just this way! The human heart needs to encounter exactly this kind of love. Also, we need to be able to give this type of love and forgiveness. It is only when we forgive others that we are able to let go of the hurt they have inflicted upon us. How can we achieve this kind of love, however? Surely it is impossible?  Too often, we fail to achieve this level of “perfection” or completion because we rely on our own efforts. If my love is the fruit of my own efforts, my own discipline, my own commitment, then I will fail miserably! It is my Father in heaven that is the origin of unconditional love! We are only creatures and cannot love by our own efforts. Our love is a love of response, a love that replicates the love we have been shown by our heavenly Father. He loves us unconditionally and forgives all our faults. When I remember how many times God has loved and forgiven me, then I become capable of loving and forgiving others. The evil and unjust people that Jesus speaks of in the Gospel are us! God makes his sun shine upon us despite our faults. He makes the rain fall upon us despite out sins. We are the ones who stripped Jesus of his tunic before his crucifixion. We are the ones who made Jesus walk the extra mile that he refers to in this Gospel passage. Yet he is holy and full of love and has forgiven us completely. If our image of God is one of a cold and distant judge, then we will not find it in us to be loving and merciful. But if we contemplate that our God is loving and merciful, then we will discover the strength to do likewise. If we wish to be perfect, if we wish to be complete, then let us meditate on the holiness, mercy and paternity of God.

We all long to be loved unconditionally, to be forgiven completely, to be accepted just as we are. Each one of us longs to encounter perfect love.

"Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect". The Greek term used by Matthew to express "perfection" indicates the moment when something or someone reaches its goal, hits the target, reaches its authentic end. Jesus, therefore, is saying that love for enemies is not only a sublime attitude, but is the very goal of our existence. We were born to arrive at the point of loving like this. Each one of us has the hope in our hearts to be loved in this way by others! We all wish to be accepted unconditionally and be forgiven without limits. In fact, we all need it, because forgiveness is the only thing that unravels the knot of unsolvable things that we carry inside.

How can we learn to love unconditionally? How can we hope to love our enemies? Is it a matter of gritting my teeth and making a big effort?

And even more than this, our hearts hope to be capable of this quality of love, because it is only then that we are really healed from our wounds. When we forgive, in fact, we become free from the violence we have suffered. But how do we get to this state of perfection? How can I ever hope to love my enemy? If I try to make this sort of love a duty, an ethical need, something that I resolve to apply myself to, then I will fail miserably! How many times we have faltered when we have tried to achieve this kind of love and forgiveness through our own efforts alone! What we end up with is something insincere, words only and little more.

Our Father in heaven is the origin of love. If I look to him, make him my model, then I become capable of loving my enemies. Our love is a love in response to the love of God for us. Such love does not originate in my own efforts and sweat, but in the love of the Father. As a child of God, who has loved me unconditionally, then I become capable of forgiving those who hurt me.

The Lord Jesus points out the only way to this level of perfection: our Father in heaven. It is not a question of trying to achieve the greatest love by forcing it out from our incompleteness, unleashing it from our hopeless insufficiency. Rather, it is a question of returning to the origin of love, starting from the Father himself. Love of our enemies is a consequence of being a child of God! It is a matter of regeneration. If the origin of my action is my own effort and commitment, I will never reach my target, because I am only a creature. But if I start from the Father, then I have a chance of loving perfectly because He is perfect. He is Almighty Father and my Creator. And he loves me tenderly. When I forgive those who have hurt me, I express my baptismal nature as a child of God. I am born from the love, generosity and patience of the one who "makes his sun shine over the bad and the good, and makes it rain on the righteous and the unjust”. My perfection does not originate from me. It comes from the Father.