Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings thrust us into a meditation upon God’s merciful and radical love for us. God’s love is radical for us, in that, his love goes to the root of the problem and loves us there. Paul writes that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This action, for Paul, proves God’s love for us. God loves us precisely when we do not deserve it or have done nothing to merit it. It is through God’s unmerited love that we have salvation, redemption, and can begin to become holy once again. God loves us this way on the cross. But he also loves us this way in the Eucharist and in the Confessional. We continue to come to the Lord as sinners in need of mercy and love, and God continues to shower us with this love and mercy which restores us in his grace and missions us to go and do likewise.
Can we have a love like this for others in our life? Are we able to love others, who are yet still sinners and who do not merit our love by how they act? Our God loves first and through this loves the transformation of our hearts begins. We are called to receive this love from him and go and do likewise. The harvest is plenty, but the laborers who have a love like God’s are few. Let us pray today for the Lord to help us be grateful of his merciful love in our lives and for the courage to love like this with others in our life.