February 20th 2022.  Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL  Luke 6:27-38

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

 

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

 

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GOSPEL  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.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
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 your Father is merciful.

“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.” 

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

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. Jesus proclaims a way of life that can only be lived by someone who is rooted in the Father. From a purely human point of view, it is impossible to love enemies. It cannot be done by force of will. What Jesus is calling us to is not an ethical system but the life of God, the new life of baptism.

Last Sunday we heard Luke’s account of the sermon on the plain. Jesus proclaimed the Beatitudes and the woes that are the lot of anyone who does not receive Christ as he passes among us and offers us redemption. In this Sunday’s Gospel, we read of the kind of life that is lived by anyone who does receive him. The passage opens with words that are at the heart of the Christian life. “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.” We are called upon to make concrete the fraternal love and mercy that is at the heart of the Gospel. However, these words can be distorted into something tortuous, an obligation, a coercive ethic. Instead of passing from legalism to grace, we turn Christianity into something that moves from grace to legalism. It is simply not possible to love my enemies by simple force of the will! In the first reading, David had the opportunity of killing his enemy, Saul, but he does not because he realizes that there is a truth greater than himself here: Saul is the anointed of God. Here, David becomes a model for us by operating according to God rather than a purely human way of behaving. The second reading (which usually we do not comment upon) from St Paul to the Corinthians says that the first Adam became a living being, but the last Adam, Christ, is a life-giving spirit. It is the life that Christ gives us that empowers us to love our enemies and treat well those who hate us. The new life of Christ is not our old life, adjusted and improved. The biological life that Adam gave us is a life that merely defends itself. It cannot give of itself as the life of Christ does. It seeks to preserve itself rather than act for the preservation of others. If we only do good to those who do good do us, what recompense will we have? Sinners do the same. What we are asked to do touches on the secret of our baptism, which is to live according to God.

 

2. The life of God cannot be mimicked. It comes by regeneration in Christ, through the sacraments, through baptism, through becoming identified with Christ in the Eucharist, by being renewed in our divine sonship by the Holy Spirit in Confirmation.

In fact, Jesus says, “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”. Then he asks us to be merciful as the Father is merciful. The issue here is being rooted in the Father. The scandalous love and mercy that is being spoken of here is the scandalous love of God. It is the incomprehensible love of Christ upon the cross who prays for those who are crucifying him. This is the love that is poured into our hearts as well. We are not speaking of an ethical system or a moral code, but the love of the Father demonstrated in the Lord Jesus and given to us through the Holy Spirit. This Gospel is a hymn to the work of the Holy Spirit in us. It is a description of the sort of life that is lived by the Father. It is a way of life that cannot be mimicked: it requires regeneration. Our participation in the Eucharist reconnects us to the body of Christ, making us part of his body, living in him as he lives in us. It is not about possessing him as we might possess other things, but about being identified with him completely. Our baptism bears witness to the divine sonship to which we are called, the wonders of which are strengthened and renewed at Confirmation.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

In the Gospel passage this week, Jesus talks about a kind of love that seems impossible. We are to love our enemies, pray for those who hate us, respond well to those who treat us badly, give freely to those who take from us. Is Jesus speaking in the abstract? Surely he doesn’t intend us to be able to love in that way? But, if we think about it, isn’t that exactly the kind of love that we seek in people around us? We want people to be patient with us, to not respond badly to our bad behaviour. Too often we make justice, not love, the basis of our actions. We seek justice for ourselves. We defend our space and our rights. We refuse to give something to someone unless he gives something similar to me. And if someone behaves badly towards us, we think we are justified in behaving badly in return. But a person who is fixated with justice in this way is not a pleasant person to be with. How can a mother raise her child if she seeks justice for every fault that the child commits? How can two spouses stay together all their lives if they are not willing to forgive and overlook each other’s faults? The love that Jesus is talking about is not an abstract, impossible love. Rather it is the very king of pardoning and forgiving love that we all need desperately every day. The person that defends his space and seeks justice will end up being isolated and alone. It is justice that is the abstract and impossible quantity in the end! It is forgiving love that creates real community. And Jesus is the one who shows us how to love in this way. He forgives us when we crucify him and abandon him. He returns our bad treatment with love. Let us make the way that Jesus treats us our model of how to treat others.