Thursday, September 12, 2013 23rd Week in Ordinary Time First Reading:
Col 3: 12-17 Gospel
Reading: Lk 6:27-38
Jesus said to his disciples, “But I say to you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you and pray for those who treat you badly. To the one who strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek; from the one who takes your coat, do not keep back your shirt. Give to the one who asks and if anyone has taken something from you, do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have others do to you. If you love only those who love you, what kind of graciousness is yours? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do favors to those who are good to you, what kind of graciousness is yours? Even sinners do the same. If you lend only when you expect to receive, what kind of graciousness is yours? For sinners also lend to sinners, expecting to receive something in return.
But love your enemies and do good to them, and lend when there is nothing to expect in return. Then will your reward be great and you will be sons and daughters of the Most High. For he is kind towards the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Don’t be a judge of others and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you, and you will receive in your sack good measure, pressed down, full and running over. For the measure you give will be the measure you receive back.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Judging by worldly standards today’s Gospel message is anything but wise. By worldly standard, the wiser thing to do is outsmart enemies and not love them, to get even with those who treat us badly and not to bless them, to employ self-defense or take flight and not turn the other cheek. Is one still in his right mind if he gives his expensive shirt as take-home gift to the thief who steals from him? Yet today’s Gospel tells us to do those that the world considers unwise.
This points to one radical message: Christian love is a counter flow. Francis Bacon was right when he wrote in his ‘Essays’ in this wise: “It is impossible to love and to be wise”. It is indeed impossible to love the Christian way and be considered wise in this world. The chasm dividing the two is too wide that one who perfects the art of Christian love becomes an outcast in most societies.
But why worry about being outcasts in this world if in the process we get divine approval? Can the world offer to the wise anything better than salvation of the soul? – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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