20220312 PERFECTION OF LOVE BY LOVING OUR ENEMIES
12 March, 2022, Saturday, 1st Week of Lent
First reading |
Deuteronomy 26:16-19 © |
You will be a people consecrated to the Lord
Moses said to the people: ‘The Lord your God today commands you to observe these laws and customs; you must keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
‘You have today made this declaration about the Lord: that he will be your God, but only if you follow his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and listen to his voice. And the Lord has today made this declaration about you: that you will be his very own people as he promised you, but only if you keep all his commandments; then for praise and renown and honour he will set you high above all the nations he has made, and you will be a people consecrated to the Lord, as he promised.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 118(119):1-2,4-5,7-8 © |
They are happy who follow God’s law!
They are happy whose life is blameless,
who follow God’s law!
They are happy who do his will,
seeking him with all their hearts.
They are happy who follow God’s law!
You have laid down your precepts
to be obeyed with care.
May my footsteps be firm
to obey your statutes.
They are happy who follow God’s law!
I will thank you with an upright heart
as I learn your decrees.
I will obey your statutes;
do not forsake me.
They are happy who follow God’s law!
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Lk8:15 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Blessed are those who,
with a noble and generous heart,
take the word of God to themselves
and yield a harvest through their perseverance.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Or: | 2Co6:2 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Now is the favourable time:
this is the day of salvation.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Gospel | Matthew 5:43-48 © |
Pray for those who persecute you
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’
PERFECTION OF LOVE BY LOVING OUR ENEMIES
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [DT 26,16-19; PS 119:1-2,4-5,7-8; MT 5:43-48]
Moses said to the people: “The Lord your God today commands you to observe these law and customs; you must keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.” What Moses asked of the people was complete obedience to the laws. “You have today made this declaration about the Lord; that he will be your God, but only if you follow his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and listen to his voice.” For the people during the time of Moses, all that was required of them was to obey the laws strictly, as many were simple minded. And so to unite the people together and keep them in the covenant, all they had to do was to observe the laws to find happiness. “And the Lord has today made this declaration about you; that you will be his very own people as he promised you, but only if you keep all his commandments; then for praise and renown and honour he will set you high above all the nations he has made, and you will be a people consecrated to the Lord, as he had promised.”
Such was the belief of the Israelites down through the ages, even during the time of Jesus in the gospel, when the scribes and the Pharisees were particularly meticulous about observing all the commandments of the Lord. Not only did they seek to observe the commandments, but in order not to infringe them, they detailed specifically how the laws were to be applied in daily life. These laws were considered customs, extrapolated from the basic laws of Moses. As a consequence, often the spirit of the laws was forgotten, and the focus was on the observance of the laws. Such observances became legalistic in practice. Instead of liberating the people for life, they burdened them with the laws, always watching and waiting to catch those who broke the law, as they did with Jesus.
Right at the outset of His Sermon on the Mount, the Lord stated emphatically, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Mt 5:17f) Truly, the entire Sermon on the Mount is but an explication of how the Law of Moses could be fulfilled perfectly and not merely externally. And this is possible if we observe them with the Spirit of love. This is why the Lord told His disciples, “I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:20)
But what does it mean to love? Love is a generic term to mean what we like; things, food, places, animals, people and God. There are many types of love. We have love for our loved ones and family members. This kind of love is based on natural and emotional ties. Even when we do not feel loving towards them, simply because we are members of the same family, we feel a sense of obligation towards them. It requires some effort on our part when we do not love them. But we will care for them even if we do not feel like doing it, because that person is part of the family.
Then we have the love of friends. This love is more like pagan love, as the Lord said. “For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not?” This kind of love is based on mutual response. It is not one-sided. It is one of mutual care, mutual love and mutual support. Such a love is conditional. The moment the person does not respond to our love, we change our friends. We love so that we are loved.
The next kind of love is the love that springs from our passion. This type of love is more associated with romance and sex. There is emotional and physical attraction. This love comes from the heart and also from our sensual body. When a couple is attracted to each other, they fall in love. This term, “falling in love” means that the heart and the body are drawn towards each other. This attraction is difficult to resist. It cannot even be logically explained. This explains why it is difficult to understand why a couple comes together when they seem incompatible physically, intellectually and even socially. This kind of love therefore involves both emotional and physical ties.
The highest form of love is called agape, because it is a love that is unconditional. It is a love that could come from a heart-felt compassion for those who are suffering. It could even come from a sense of duty. It is rooted in a person’s sensitivity to those who need our assistance. It is pure love that springs from compassion. This love does not expect any return. Often, this love originates from the love of God in the person. This is also the love of God.
It is a love that is directed towards others who could even include our enemies. God’s love includes His enemies and not only those who love Him. As the Lord said, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes the sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike.” A love that is extended to our enemies is something most of us find difficult to do or even impossible to do. Even to love our neighbours, beyond our family and loved ones is already quite a tall order, much less to love our enemies. Of course, we must bear in mind that the love of enemies is not the same as loving our friends and loved ones or even those who are suffering and who need help. We are not expected to have the same emotional, passionate or loving feelings with those who are our friends.
It is the perfection of love. Such a love is truly the love of God. For the scriptures tell us this is how God loves us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (Jn 3:16f) Jesus “knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (Jn 13:1) Following this verse, the evangelist illustrated how much Jesus loved His disciples to the extent of allowing them to betray Him and dying on the cross abandoned by them. Before He died, He gave them the “Eucharist” as a memorial of Him. St Paul, upon reflection of God’s love said, “When we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:6-8)
This is what our Lord meant when He said, “You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus was not speaking about metaphysical perfection, such as the attributes of God. No one in this sense can be perfect because only God is perfect. The perfection is the perfection of love. This perfection of love must be extended beyond our loved ones to our neighbours and even our enemies. We must find all means to win over our enemies, and to forgive them when we have been hurt by them. Until we arrive at this depth of inclusive love for all, we are still far from the perfection of love demanded by our Lord. And the truth is that the failure to arrive at this perfection means that we will never be complete and liberated in life, because we are created for love. One who fails to love, lacks fulfilment. Perfection is when we fulfil the purpose that God has created us to be.
So to perfect our love, we must receive the love of God. St Paul said, “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Rom 5:5) Only Christ can give us the capacity to love. This is why, the Holy Spirit is the gift of God’s love to us. When we encounter the Spirit of God, we will be empowered to love selflessly and generously. Only in the Spirit of Christ, can we too commend our enemies to the mercy and love of God. Indeed, the same Spirit will raise us to fullness of life.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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