11th Week in Ordinary Time 2023 - Tuesday - Pro omnibus et singulis (For all and for each)

 Throughout his Sermon on the Mount, the Lord expounds what it means to be truly righteous, truly holy—to live in such a way that one is filled with the life of God on earth, that you may enter into the beatitude of God in eternity. 

And so hear today the a portion of his sermon on love. Already he has challenged his disciples to expand their concepts of holiness and generosity, and today’s passage certainly presents a challenge as well. 

The Lord begins with a saying his audience would have been familiar with, a saying that even seems like common sense: “you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” 

It's easy to love one's neighbor. My neighbor looks like me, talks like me, acts like me.  He’ll let me borrow a mule, or a wine press, or a piece of bread if I ask him.  I feel comfortable inviting him over for a cup of coffee.  My neighbor is lovable.

But an enemy, he looks differently, he talks differently, he might not worship the same God as me or vote for the same politicians. In fact, if I think about it, he is undermining the very fabric of society, he’s barely human; therefore, the best thing would be if he were to not exist at all, right?  Hating one's enemy makes sense...and, honestly...it's not all that difficult.

But, Jesus says, listen: the sun rises and sets on the evil and the good alike; God loves the person you perceive as your enemy just as much as he loves you.  For God loves without measure.  

To follow Christ is to love without regard to race or creed. You must seek what is best pro omnibus et singulis—for all and for each individual—neighbor or enemy. And if you are to treat each with love…is there really any distinction at all?  Kindness must not be limited to those who are kind to us.  

For many, perhaps for most, this may be the hardest of all Jesus’ instructions. But, as we heard this last Sunday, “God proved his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” God loves the sinner. He loves those who made themselves his enemies. For a sinner becomes an ally and an agent of evil in his sin—evil which opposes the goodness of God. You have opposed God. I have opposed God in my sin. But he died for all those who opposed him, out of love and utter goodness.

And that very same divine love for all is to make its dwelling in the hearts of Christians and is to animate our lives, our behaviors, our actions, our decisions, our relationships pro omnibus et singulis—for all and for each for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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To God the Father Almighty, may every prayer of our heart be directed, for it is His will that all humanity should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

For the Church during this time of Eucharistic Revival: for a deeper love and reverence for the Bread of Life; that the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist will help us to live out our vocation to holiness with greater zeal, self-sacrifice, and trust in God.  

That during this month of June dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: we may make reparation for the many blasphemies committed against God and the Church, and that the afflicted may know God’s compassion in all of their trials.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom, and for…

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

11th Week of Ordinary Time 2022 - Tuesday - Love Your Enemies

Early on in his Sermon on the Mount, the Lord explains that the righteousness of his followers is to surpass that of the Scribes and Pharisees. 

Now the Scribes and Pharisees prided themselves on their observances of the ritual laws of the Torah and keeping the 10 commandments: they practiced ritual cleanliness, they avoided contact with unclean things and “unclean people” like Gentiles and prostitutes. 

But Christians are to strive for true righteousness: to be righteous and God is righteous, to be filled with the life and justice and peace and beauty and love of God.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus describes for us the way God the Father loves. As God the Father forgives and loves those who have made themselves his enemy through sin and serving other gods, so the way of Jesus demands that we love and pardon our enemies.

Not only are we to love our neighbor, but our enemies as well: those who persecute you, those who sin against you, those with whom your country is at war, those who cut you off in traffic, those who may have bullied you a half a century ago in grade school, those who misuse their power and authority. Love them.  

Love them, forgive them, be patient with them, feed them, clothe them, teach them, serve them, hold no grudges toward them, visit them, pray for them, seek what is best for them. Love them even when it feels like they are scourging you at a pillar, even when they are forcing you to march to your crucifixion.

We see the Lord doing everything he can to solicit the conversion of those who persecute him throughout the course of his ministry, he prays for them even as he is suffering and dying on the cross. And we are called to do the same. That is love. Remaining patient with ones enemies, seeking their conversion, and even praying for them if they nail you to a cross.

This is the way of perfection, because this is what the perfect God did. And the Lord teaches today that we will not really become children of God until we start behaving like God—God who is Love—God who loves everyone, forgives everyone, desires the good of everyone.

Many people in our highly-offendable culture walk around just waiting to attack those who offend them, to verbally assault those who inconvenience them. They are just looking to mark someone as their enemy so they can pummel them with their pent up frustrations, to make them into a scapegoat for all of their problems. 

Christians, rather than being at the ready to pounce on our enemies, must be ready to forgive them, to love them.

May the Lord bring about that change of heart in each of us, to readily love with Christ-like love, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the bishops of the Church will act as true prophets through their faithful teaching, their courageous witness, and their self-sacrificing love. Let us pray to the Lord.

That government leaders around the world may carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for freedom and the dignity of human life.  Let us pray to the Lord.

For the Church’s missions amongst the poor and unevangelized throughout the world, that the work of Christ may be carried out with truth and love. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the grace to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love our neighbors and enemies and those who persecute us, and to share the truth of the Gospel with all.  Let us pray to the Lord.

For all those who share in the sufferings of Christ—the sick, the sorrowful, and those who are afflicted or burdened in any way.  Let us pray to the Lord.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. Let us pray to the Lord.

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

 

11th Week in OT 2019 - Tuesday - Readiness to love our enemies

We continue to read from Jesus’ great sermon on the mount during these weekdays of Ordinary Time, and we are confronted with one of Jesus’ most counter-cultural teachings this morning: love your enemies.

Why this teaching is counter-cultural should be obvious. The tendency of our fallen nature is to hate our enemies, ostracize and undermine them, defeat them in battle, seek their downfall, annihilate their influence in the world. Fallen nature takes delight in seeing enemies suffer.

But Jesus’ disciples are not to follow the tendencies of fallen nature. Rather, we are to live according to a new way, the way of Christ preached in the Sermon and modeled in his earthly life.

We are to love our enemies, because He loves those who have made themselves enemies of God through sin. He went to the cross for all out of love for all.

If we love our enemies, we can love anyone. And we must. Out of obedience to Christ!

So, how are we to love our enemies? Forgive them, be patient with them, feed them, clothe them, teach them, serve them, hold no grudges toward them, visit them, pray for them, seek what is best for them. Love them even when it feels like they are scourging you at a pillar, even when they are forcing you to march to your crucifixion.

Saint Maximus the Confessor wrote, “Readiness to do good to someone who hates us is a characteristic of perfect love.” Many people in our highly-offendable culture walk around ready to attack those who offend them, to verbally assault those who inconvenience them, they are just looking to unveil someone as their enemy so they can pummel them with their pent up frustrations, to make them into a scapegoat for all of their problems.

But Christians must ready ourselves to do good to all. And by doing so we begin to reflect that perfect love of Jesus Christ. We begin to be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect.

May we ready ourselves to do good to all, and pray deeply for our enemies, not simply for their conversion, but for our conversion to love them as Christ loves them, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the bishops of the Church will act as true prophets through their faithful teaching, their courageous witness, and their self-sacrificing love. We pray to the Lord.

That government leaders around the world may carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for freedom and the dignity of human life.  We pray to the Lord.

For the Church’s missions amongst the poor and unevangelized throughout the world, that the work of Christ may be carried out with truth and love. We pray to the Lord.

For the grace to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love our neighbors and enemies and those who persecute us, and to share the truth of the Gospel with all.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who share in the sufferings of Christ—the sick, the sorrowful, and those who are afflicted or burdened in any way.  We pray to the Lord.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray to the Lord.

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

4th Week of OT 2018 - Tuesday - Loving your enemies

King David’s behavior, his grief is somewhat confusing. Absalom was a usurper. He killed his brother Amnon. He had stolen the loyalty of David’s army and countrymen. You would think that David would rejoice at the news of Absalom’s death, that he would heap praise upon the soldiers who killed this anti-king.

And yet, we see David cry out with grief, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you.”

Intimations of Christ-like forgiveness are found in this story—Christ who chose to die for us when we were worthy of death.

We are Absalom, guilty of usurpation, seizing what did not belong to us; we are Adam and Eve grasping at the forbidden fruit, as if divinity could be gained through disobedience.  We are Cain, jealous of our brothers favor. We are Israel worshiping false idols even after it is clear that God had intervened in our history.

We made ourselves into the enemies of God by virtue of sin. How absolutely mind-blowing, ego-shattering to consider that God chose to become man to die, not for his friends, but for his enemies. Paul write to Rome, “Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

So when, Our Lord teaches us that we must not hate, but love our enemies, he’s not just saying that we are simply to refrain from killing them, but that perhaps we would be willing to die for them, like David desired to die for his son Absalom, like Jesus desired to die for us.

This sort of Christ-like love for our enemies makes most of us quite unsettled. And it should, because most of us have a lot of converting still to do. But no doubt, true joy is found in the conversion of our hearts from hardness to Christ-like love.

We do well to ask the Lord to teach us the meaning of love, to give us the desire to love, not simply our friends, but our enemies, for the stranger, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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That all members of the Church may live out their baptismal call with greater conviction and faithfulness, and turn to the Lord in their sins with sincere contrition.

During this Catholic Schools Week, we continue to pray for all students, for their openness to knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and for their teachers ability to educate.

For parents, the first teachers of their children, and for a strengthening of all families in faith.  We pray to the Lord.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

Tuesday - 11th Week of OT 2017 - Love of enemies

Teaching us fallen humans how to love is at the heart of Jesus’ mission.  He tells us today that not only are we to love our neighbor, but our enemies as well: those who persecute you, those who sin against you, those with whom your country is at war, those who cut you off in traffic, those who may have bullied you a half-century ago in grade school, those who seem to be bringing ruin to our country and even our church.  Love them.

God loves them indiscriminately and generously; he seeks that they be perfected in love just as he seeks that we be perfected in love. Jesus died for them, just as he died for us.  To be perfect like God is to love not only our nice neighbors but everyone, to do good to not just those who do us good, but to all.

When Jesus commands us to love, he’s not talking about a feeling, but concrete acts of love.  Feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, counseling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, praying for the living and the dead, forgiving injuries.

Maximus the Confessor wrote, “Readiness to do good to someone who hates us is a characteristic of perfect love.”

Charity is to be shown to all irrespective of color, distance, nation, or character.

Do you find readiness to love in yourself? Readiness, eagerness, willingness, inclination to engage in those acts of love.  Would those who are close to you describe you as someone that is eager to love anyone you met? Eager to forgive, eager to pray, eager to take someone under your wing, eager to share the Gospel?

Charity is a virtue.  It’s a habit. It’s hard in the beginning, but as any habit, it gets easier, and then it becomes joyful.

The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Charity—it is the gift that Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to us God’s infinite love for every man and woman.  May the Eucharist we receive today draw us deeper into the life of God who is love, the God who loves us perfectly, that we may be instruments of that same boundless charity, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the bishops of the Church will act as true prophets through their faithful teaching, their courageous witness, and their self-sacrificing love. We pray to the Lord.

That government leaders around the world may carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for freedom and the dignity of human life.  We pray to the Lord.

For the Church’s missions amongst the poor and unevangelized throughout the world, that the work of Christ may be carried out with truth and love. We pray to the Lord.

For the grace to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love our neighbors and enemies, and to share the truth of the Gospel with all.  We pray to the Lord.


That the Lord will be close to all those who share in the sufferings of Christ—the sick, the sorrowful, and those who are afflicted or burdened in any way.  We pray to the Lord.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray to the Lord.


O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.