Un-Quiet Word for Today, Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Introduction to the Liturgy of the Day
Love your enemies, Jesus tells us, challenging society’s values and even common sense. Why should we love those who have hurt us? Well, one of the greatest gifts we can give is our mercy. We may feel that our enemy doesn’t deserve our mercy, but it may help to realize that it is God’s mercy that we extend, that it’s God mercy that counts. Let us think of those who have wronged us and pray that we can be instruments of God’s mercy in their lives.
Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word
Before Jesus taught his disciples the importance of showing mercy, David put such a lesson into action when threatened by Saul. He and his comrade could have killed the king or taken him prisoner, but David ordered that his life be spared. Listening to today’s readings, let us listen for ways in which we can show mercy to those in need.
Reflections
• What if David had ordered Abishai to kill Saul? He certainly would have felt justified in doing so, for Saul would have done the same, given the opportunity. But how much bloodshed would have followed? An army of three thousand sur- rounded him. It is unlikely that David or Abishai would have survived. Then his allies back home would likely have been driven to avenge their deaths. Mean- while, the new leader of Saul’s army would lead them to avenge the death of their king by killing or imprisoning all those who had allied themselves David. And so on. Only mercy can defeat retribution.
• Jesus teaches the Golden Rule, “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31), but immediately takes it one step further, telling his disciples to “love your enemies and do good to them” (Luke 6:35). Note that he is not telling them just to passively tolerate them, but to actively do kind things for them. This is as countercultural now as it was then. It asks us to look at our enemies as God does, with mercy and love. None of us is sinless, immune from judgment or condemnation. How often have we seen a public figure denounce a person or a group or heard a friend bad-mouth someone else? Let us realize that the reverse could happen just as easily. Our challenge is to reconcile with those we want to condemn, giving others the mercy God gives us.
• Paul knows intimately what it’s like to receive God’s mercy. He had persecuted Christians before his conversion and was on his way to Damascus to imprison more of them. Had he been struck dead, it would have appeared destined. But God did not return violence with violence. Paul went on to become the premier apostle of the faith among the Gentiles. Paul reminds the Corinthians that we all bear the image of God’s creation, from Adam to Christ. As Adam was given life by God, Christ gives life to those with his spirit within them. Children of Adam, we look forward to bearing the image of Christ.
Question of the Week
Who has hurt me to whom I can give mercy? How can I go about giving mercy, giving life, to them?
-from Pastoral Patterns
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readings of the mass
LISTEN HERE to the Audio Recordings of the Readings of Sunday, February 20th, 2022, Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
SELECT HERE for the Readings of Sunday, February 20th, 2022, Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.
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reflections
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But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend without expecting anything back.
Luke 6: 35
Love your enemies?
Easier said than done, right? But, if we are to imitate Christ, most of us need to practice mercy and compassion more frequently. Start with the little daily annoyances that we experience, the unkind word or hateful glance we receive.
Instead of plotting revenge on that person, try saying a quick prayer for that person. Praying for our enemies doesn’t change them, it changes us. Mercy and compassion will keep us on the path to holiness.
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Liturgical Season of Lent
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Ash Wednesday is March 2nd and is the start of Lent...DISCOVER MORE
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Bible Study Fellowship
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New Bible Study Program starts Thursday February 17, 2022.
We will gather for Scripture and prayer weekly on Thursdays at 6:00 PM in the Saint Boniface church hall.
Dedicate some time this Lent to getting to know Christ through the study of Scripture! All are welcome...
SELECT HERE for more information on this Bible Study Program and Sign-Up.
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Meditation for the week
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"Love Your Enemies"
You may very well have lived a long life, saying the Lord's Prayer daily, and when you came to the words and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, your soul was completely quiet and unruffled. Then one day something happens. It may all be your own fault. You may have a bad argument and the other one walks out on you, bitter and full of wrath. Before you can think twice, you have an enemy. At first, you don't want to believe it. You say to yourself, he'll come around, just wait a little. But this happens to be one of those unfortunate cases where he does not come around. After a while you may say that it is perfectly ridiculous, and you may earnestly try to meet him, and in a casual way get things straightened out. But then you find out that he's fed up with you and he has no intention whatsoever of having things as they were. Soon you will hear how he spoke about you on this or that occasion, and from those remarks you know now that you have an enemy.
Soon after this startling discovery, these words emerge from the depths of your memory and they take on a completely new meaning: You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. And now a new period in your life begins. You try, you really try, to love your enemy—but how? There have been a number of different loves in your life and these you try to apply now to him. How you loved your parents when you were very young yourself, how you loved your best friend in school, how you loved in those unique weeks before your wedding, how you now love your own children. Then there is in your heart love for your country, for your hometown, for your old school, and your neighborhood. It is perfectly amazing how many shades of love move a human heart during one short life. But, as hard as you may try, not one of them fits your purpose. Now, you almost get worried because there is that command—But I say to you—and you haven't yet found a way to fulfill it. This much you have learned, however, that the love for your enemy is a completely new love in your life and you have to discover it step by step.... It is completely different from all other loves, and it is very anxious and very unemotional. It resides mostly in your will, but let us hope that in the eyes of God it is a soaring fire which, in his own good time, will melt all the ice or resistance, and our Lord's wish will be fulfilled: That they may be one... that they may become perfectly one.
-Maria von Trapp
Maria von Trapp (1987), with her children and stepchildren, the Trapp Family Singers, inspired the musical and film The Sound of Music.
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