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Gospel Reflection for Saturday, March 15, 2025
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul; the decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple,» says the psalm 1 of the Entrance Antiphon in today’s Liturgy. The law of the Lord is proposed to us as perfect. It seems reasonable to confront our criteria, our judgments, and our actions with what is perfect. Then, in the reading of the Word, with Psalm 118 we say, «I want to keep your decrees exactly,» to end—once the purpose is made—imploring, «do not abandon me.» Because certainly, will or desire is not enough, and we need grace to be faithful.
Jesus, like every pious Jew, knew the Law and the prophets. He had read and heard them in the Synagogue since the Bar Mitzvah ceremony, through which Jewish males, upon turning 13, assume their responsibility to fulfill the precepts. We believe that Jesus is the best human being and also the Son consubstantial with the Father. And therefore, what Jesus says is the word of God, Holy Trinity. In the books attributed to Moses, it is not written «you shall hate your enemy,» but it is in other books of the scriptures. That is why «but I say to you, love your enemies» must have sounded like a scandal to his disciples.
Hating the enemy responds to human logic. Loving him is divine logic. And Jesus Christ asks us to enter into that logic, which is of a different order. To love according to God is to rise above the feeling, the sympathy, the liking or disliking that others produce in us.
Yesterday, the Lord asked us for reconciliation, which means to reconcile again. To recover harmony. Today, he asks us to extend love to those who hate us, have offended us, are a threat, bother us, or, ultimately, we would prefer they disappear.
Love for enemies includes something more: praying for those who persecute us. We cannot continue to hate them if we pray for them. By praying, we put them before God. Can we hate in his presence? As Jesus Christ prayed for his enemies on the Cross, we are called to pray. Today, Christians suffer persecution in many places. Sometimes the attack leaves no room for the testimony of the word, other times it does, and they die forgiving. Let us learn from them and from the innumerable triumphant Church of the Saints who took the following of Christ very seriously.