This is one of the toughest teachings to carry out in Christianity. Love is often something we cherish…until we are called upon to love someone who has hurt us or those we care about. Yet without this crucial command we cannot heal and grow as children of God.
Mass Readings – Saturday of the 1st Week of Lent
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The Lord’s teaching in Luke’s Gospel has powerful consequences for our spiritual lives. When we love – especially in difficult moments of conflict – we embrace the grace of Christ and live the gift of life at full power. This is not an easy teaching! The Lord, however, is always near to help us put his love into practice.
Mass Readings – 7th Sunday of the Year
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Perhaps one of the most demanding teachings of Christ, the passage from Matthew’s Gospel challenges us to put this command of God to the toughest test, as we love the hardest group of all…our enemies.
Mass Readings – Tuesday of the 11th Week of the Year
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We find in this selection from the Sermon on the Mount one of the hardest teachings of Jesus: to love our enemies. Yet when we do this we cleanse our hearts of hate and fill them with God’s grace, so that we will be prepared to follow Christ in this life and be with Him in the next.
Mass Readings – Saturday of the 1st Week of Lent
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“Love your enemies” is one of the toughest teachings of Jesus. Yet these words continue to show us a path forward in the face of hatred, violence and persecution…revealing that there is something that can heal our hearts and renew our lives: God’s love.
Mass Readings – Tuesday of the 11th Week of the Year
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The stress and tension of the recent riots, compounded by COVID-19 concerns, reveals the crucial need to carry out the love of Christ that we hear about in the Gospel of Mark today.
Mass Readings – Thursday of the 9th Week of the Year
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It’s the classic test of the depth of our response to the Lord’s command…to be able to love those hostile people who make our lives painful and unbearable. Can we follow the example of Christ and love our enemies?
Mass Readings – Saturday of the 1st Week of the Year
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The commandment to love challenges us to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ. May we look to the example of the saints to love – event when it’s hard – as we draw near to the Lord and one another.
Mass Readings – 7th Sunday of the Year
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Study: Reflect on a moment when you felt completely and entirely loved. How did that experience shape your life?
Pray: Is there a person in your life right now who is difficult to love? Ask the Lord for an infusion of grace!
Serve: How can you say “I love you” with an action? How can you show others the love in your heart?
Mass Readings – 7th Sunday of the Year
A couple of major themes surface in our readings this week:
In the first reading and Psalm we see the Lord’s command to love one another. This might catch some people by surprise; after all, the Old Testament is filled with examples where the people of God are anything but loving to those they encounter! Point: love of neighbor is a clear commandment of God.
The Gospel of Matthew sets the bar higher as Jesus builds on this command and calls us to conversion. We are not only called to love our neighbors and family, but we are also called to love our enemies and persecutors! Like last week, Jesus takes the commandments of the Old Testament and moves far beyond them. We are called to love with our whole heart…loving one another the way God loves us.
The second reading goes in a different direction. We hear from St. Paul that our bodies are temples of the living God, and as such we encounter the Spirit of God in the person of everyone we meet.
A consideration for today: put the love of God into practice! We are cherished, treasured, forgiven and esteemed by the Lord – who loves us even on our worst days. Following this example we can act accordingly…loving those around us with the love of Jesus Christ.
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Note: This post was first published on February 13, 2017.
The First Letter of John cuts through any warm and fuzzy notions of love with a decisive evaluation: we reveal our love for God through our love for one another. May this practical test guide and direct our actions, powered by the love of Christ.
Mass Readings – Thursday after Epiphany
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Three Great Things 