10 September 2020

Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks me to put into practice a love for others that is more universal, unbiased. unselfish. There is no limit to Christian charity. I should love everyone, even those who do not love me. That doesn’t mean I should go around hugging everybody I bump into. Whew! That’s a reasonable way for making more enemies.

 Prayer is the key that opens up for me what the Lord means. It trains me to love as Jesus loved. On the cross he prayed for those who nailed him there because he loved all, even his enemies. So, he is the one who can teach me to love as he did.

He taught me to say “our Father”. That’s asking to enter into God’s family, where all are brothers and sisters, no matter what they do, or what they have done.  It means I’m there too.

My desire for absolute happiness will never be satisfied until I live out the axiom “Be merciful just as also your Father is merciful”. It’s the formula for living a happy life, and the way to do so is to put into practice “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”