Homily for the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 23, 2025

Are these orders from Jesus (Luke 6: 27-37) a string of exaggerations designed to shock us?   

NO!  We all know very well that Jesus means every single one of these statements, shocking and nearly impossible to implement as they truly are.   

We know him well enough to realize that these teachings are so “Christ-like,” so incredibly different from conventional wisdom, so radical that they must be divine; they must be filled with Life and designed to fill us with Life too. 

Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  Luke 6:27 

Some of us might have trouble identifying their enemies.  Others aren’t willing to admit having any.  And those among us who have some very specific people who hate them, might be too busy steering clear of them to try to be reconciled with them or to do good to them. 

Hence, today, it is important for us to clarify a few points. 

The closer we get to Jesus, the more he becomes the center of our life and the object of our love, the more enemies we get for they are already his enemies.  

They are the enemies of the truth, of the sacredness of all human life, of honesty, of the Gospel, of the Church and of her teachings. 

Today, Jesus shows us how to deal with his enemies who have now become our enemies and are added to the number of those who are already hurting us. 

The 1st reading (1 Samuel: 2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23) shows us the first crucial step we must take in dealing with our enemies in a way pleasing to God. 

It simply amounts to setting aside our plan of justice, fairness, protection, retribution and, at the same time, to raise ourselves and our painful situation to the level of God’s wish to create one harmonious Family for himself. 

King David was given a golden opportunity to put all his troubles behind.  The words of his relative Abishai sounded so “religious:” “God has delivered your enemy into your grasp this day.”  1Samuel 26:8 

How easy it is, especially when our enemies have tormented us for a long time, to see our man-made deliverance, our own brand of justice as approved by God! 

Yet, David knew best.  We should know best too!  The Lord had his plan, and according to that plan, Saul was still God’s anointed.   

God has a plan above our little, immediate, pain-filled plans.  Repeatedly, David allowed God’s plan to dictate his future life.  True courage, solid faith!  

Our span of time spent on this earth is then the time we should work with the Holy Spirit to put aside our little personal design, to embrace God’s design.  It is the time to polish and re-polish in us the image of Christ until it shines with the splendor of the Father’s mercy. 

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.  Luke 6:36 

That must be our goal; impossible for sure, yet a goal which we must strive to achieve as completely as possible.  So many things are impossible to us; but nothing is impossible to God. 

There is an incentive that I discover in my counseling people whose lives have been enslaved by resentment, hatred and fear of their enemies.  That incentive is joy.   

Our efforts to take seriously Jesus’ commands about our enemies; those who hurt us; those who exploit us; who ignore us; who take us for granted; who are demanding, manipulative, insensitive toward us, are all designed to bring us genuine happiness. 

All people who cannot bring themselves to forgive; those who pass judgment on others with ease; those who are prone to condemn others, are leading miserable lives with no end in sight, and their miseries are self-inflicted.   

Lasting happiness comes from heartfelt forgiveness: the one which the Father extends to us in his infinite mercy and the one that we extend to each other. 

Even now, on this earth, genuine Christian happiness is found in silencing these destructive urges that I have mentioned and in embracing these radical commands of Jesus Christ. 

It would be also quite helpful to heed Paul’s suggestion … each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others. Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:4-5 

We must remember that Jesus Christ died also for every single one of our enemies.  He practiced in his flesh all these nearly impossible orders before he gave them to us as a sure recipe for lasting happiness. 

Reading this compelling desire in our hearts and realizing how we are held back by fear, our bruised ego and resentment, Jesus’ Spirit is working to convince us to embrace his attitude toward others, including our enemies.   

Thus, today, he calls us again to share in the Sacrifice of the Cross: to become with him broken bread for friends and foes, blood poured like his for those we would rather avoid, ignore, or exclude from our care.   

Assisted by the Holy Spirit may Christian happiness as fruit of reconciliation and forgiveness give us, on this very day, a strong foretaste of the endless happiness awaiting us in heaven if we strive, daily, to be as merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful.