“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Today’s reading are very powerful. I love the first reading from Kings, but this too is one of my favorite Gospels. This is what sets the message of Jesus apart from others. It was counter-cultural then and now. Who loves the enemy? All around us the MSM and the politicians beat the war drum. Jesus is radically different. Peace.