February 23, 2025
Loving Father,
Help us place our trust in you. May we embrace our faith in you, place all our hope in you, and find the fullness of love in you. Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Commentary
Last week, we were called to trust in the Lord. This week, we are challenged to trust our enemies, or at least trust that God has blessed them as he has blessed us.
Our First Reading gives us an example of such trust. David had Saul right where he wanted him. While Saul and his guard were fast asleep, David could have cut him down. He had every reason to do it. Saul, out of jealousy, had pursued David with intent to kill. He did not want David to be king.
Although David had the perfect opportunity to kill Saul, he did not. He argued, “Who can lay hands on the LORD’s anointed and remain unpunished?”
David’s trust in the Lord’s anointed spared Saul his life. This is the same trust that all Christians must adopt whenever we deal with other Christians who have been anointed by the Spirit. We must trust that they are blessed by the Lord and we must extend the same blessing toward them (and to all) even if they have hurt us.
How do you bless those who have harmed you?
Commentary
St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians follows last week’s reading on the belief in the resurrection and the bright promise that awaits all of us. However, today’s passage takes us deeper.
The reason we are to benefit from the joys of heaven is because we are born again in Christ Jesus. St. Paul says:
Just as we have borne the image of the earthly [Adam], we shall bear the image of the heavenly [Adam].
The old Adam gives way to Christ, the new Adam. Just as we are born in the bloodline of Adam, we are born again in the blood of Christ. In this way, we are Christ. We are anointed and configured to the image of Christ.
Once again, for this reason, we are called to love all Christians, especially those who have harmed us or are different from us. We must remember that they are in communion with us, even if this communion is imperfect. Trusting in the Lord means trusting in His anointed as well.
Do you bless other Christians who do not share your culture, your ideologies, or your way of life?
Continued...
Commentary
In our Gospel, Jesus continues to speak to His disciples in His Sermon on the Plain. Jesus does not speak from upon a mountain. He speaks on a level plane (on our level). On this same level, Jesus would do what He commands us to do. And what does He command?
In this case, Jesus commands love of enemy. As He would forgive us — and all who nailed Him to the cross, He commands us to love our persecutors. Why? Because even our enemies are blessed by God. As Christians, configured to the image of Christ Himself, we must “bless those who curse [us]” and even “mistreat us.”
Blessing our enemies should never be the end of our mission of love. It should be the beginning. For, in the beginning, God loved all that He called “Good” and He never stopped loving us. Even when we mistreated Him and others, God would not abandon those he called, “Good.”
Are there still people on your list that you have not forgiven? What keeps you, who claim to be Christian, from asking the Lord to bless them as well?
Make a list of those who have harmed you throughout your life. Write down their first names. Then, say the following prayer:
Lord, bless (Name) your son/daughter, my brother/sister.
(Repeat this slowly 10 times)
Response: The Lord is kind and merciful.
R: The Lord is kind and merciful.
R: The Lord is kind and merciful.
R: The Lord is kind and merciful.
R: The Lord is kind and merciful.
Used with Permission. All rights reserved. Christ in Our Neighborhood © is a Scripture program designed by Bishop John Dolan of the Diocese of Phoenix. Free resources at dphx.org/christ-in-our-neighborhood.
