SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME FEBRUARY 20, 2022

Readings: 1 Samuel 26.2, 7-9. 12-13, 22-25, 1corinthians 15.45-49, Luke 6.27-38

This Sunday we hear some of the most difficult teachings of our Lord, Jesus Christ. But first, let us reflect a bit about our faith. At the very basis of our faith is a belief in God. Today more and more people don't believe in God at all. Even many people who could call themselves Catholics say that they do not believe in a God. That is difficult to imagine, perhaps, it is documented in at least one opinion poll. Let us assume for a moment that all of us believe in God.

We who believe in God also believe that God created the heavens and earth and all that is in them. We have our own distinctive creation stories in our Bible. This short statement of what we believe, our Creed, is really important today. We want to continue to understand more profoundly what we believe. Only in the context of this belief do the teachings of Jesus make sense. We accept the teachings of Jesus first of all because He is God our Savior.

Jesus teaches us how to be faithful to God. He also teaches us a wisdom tradition. We must be careful here and not think that Jesus teaches us only human wisdom. On the other hand, divine teaching reveals to us the best of human wisdom. The danger with thinking of the teachings of Jesus as simply human wisdom is that people can begin to discard his teachings, thinking that we have better wisdom today because we live in a different age, we have a deeper understanding of human psychology, we are more aware of the diversity of the human family and for lots of other reasons.

At the heart of the teachings of Jesus that we hear today are two teachings that are so important in our lives: forgiveness and acceptance of mistreatment. Jesus tells us "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." These teachings are so against our modern ways of thinking! Yes, these same teachings would revolutionize our present world if we all loved them. The challenge is not to think to ourselves. "Nobody lives that way." Rather, we can be thinking; " How can I live this way because Jesus has invited me to live this way."

Let us pray today that our hearts might truly be open to forgiveness and to the acceptance of being treated badly. Let us love all of our enemies: the enemies of our country, the enemies of our families, our personal enemies, the enemies of our Church and whatever enemy there is. Let us love the outcasts, the lepers of our times: anyone that we would not want to live with on a regular basis! Let us learn to do good for all of these enemies. Let us bless them and pray for them. What a world we can create together if we walk this path with our Lord Jesus Christ! Let us remember this Phrase from today's Gospel: " For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."