Thursday of 23rd Week of Ordinary Time
Col 3: 12-17; Lk 6: 27-38
Dc. Larry Brockman
Isn’t it annoying how difficult the people around us are! Like people who cut us off on the highway, or sneak into the parking place we’ve chosen just ahead of us. Then there are the folks who talk in Church on Sunday. And these are just the little things! Worse yet is the person who always visits us unannounced right around dinner time; or the guy across the street who constantly plays recordings of a hard rock band at 11 O’clock at night. They could be heard 2 miles away by the deaf with earmuffs on!
In fact, if each of us is really honest about our relationships in life, we recognize that sometimes we get irritated the easiest by those we are closest to in life. Whether it is- because we expect more out of them; or it happens more often with them, or whatever, but the fact is that “familiarity breeds contempt”.
Now of course, I would never be such an irritation to anyone else. Curious, but my wife looked over my shoulder as I was preparing this homily. You know what she had the nerve to do? She snickered, and said “Get over yourself”.
Yes, we view ourselves with one standard, but apply a different standard to everyone else. The fact is that God wants all of us to abide by His standard, and it is truly a “standard” for everyone based on Love, the kind of love that is selfless; the kind of love that recognizes that none of us is perfect; all of us are human and all of us wrongfully think primarily of ourselves on occasion.
Let’s face it: all of us cut other people off in one way or another; all of us play loud music that bothers others- in one way or another; and all of us interrupt other people at an inconvenient time for them once and a while. But do all of us bear with one another’s human faults like this with patience and forgiveness? Indeed we are called to “put on love, that is, the bond of perfection” in all of these cases.
Most of us get frustrated with ourselves after we lose our cool over the little things, And go away and feel sorry that we did them. And we ask God to forgive us such trespasses. We not only ask, but we expect that God will forgive us. And fortunately, God hears our confession and forgives us. He has told us over and over He would do that because his standard is love and forgiveness. We need to do the same for others.
And yet forgiving people for their human weaknesses ends up being the easy part. Jesus demands much more of us in the Gospel. Jesus is not just talking about forgiving human weaknesses, but Jesus is talking about being kind, patient, forgiving, and even loving, to our enemies. Yes, even to our enemies.
Now the interesting thing about the things an enemy does is that they are rooted in the same evil as our human weaknesses- selfishness. That’s why people lie, cheat, steal, kill, and a whole host of other things. Jesus is trying to tell us that we also need to handle these people and their flaws the same way we handle the small stuff- with Love, because that is God’s answer to all sin and selfishness.
You see, when you come right down to it, God has no choice but to act according to his nature. Life is all about us learning to adopt God’s nature as our own so we can live in harmony with him forever. We have to kill our enemies with love because love is the only way they will truly be converted. By our example, they can and will be converted.
That doesn’t mean we condone the evil an enemy does or stand by and let it happen. But it means that when we have the opportunity to relate to them, we show them that we are people of love, not of hate.
So let’s all try it. The next time you have an opportunity to relate to someone you haven’t been getting along with, try something different. Try treating them in as loving a manner as you possibly can.