Friends,
We live in times when many of our conversations exaggerate differences and divisions. But the scripture for this Sunday proclaims a radical message of love and compassion that overcomes hatred, heals, and unifies.
St. Paul teaches the Corinthians and us that the Spirit of God is within us. Together, we are a temple of God proclaiming God’s wisdom. This wisdom challenges human notions that can ultimately lead to division and hatred when we see ‘others’ as our enemies. In the first reading, Moses is commanded to profess God’s wisdom by telling the people that holiness is based on love and forgiveness: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’
In the Gospel, Jesus fully expresses the wisdom of God’s Law of Love: ‘love your enemies’. We are called to respond with radical non-violence to all forms of hatred and division.
The Psalm at the center of this week’s scripture is a beautiful song of gratitude to a God full of forgiveness, which is slow to anger and abounds in compassion and love.
This week, may the words of this love song sing out through all that we do and say. Let us pray that we will have the grace to move beyond divisive ‘them-and-us’ ways of thinking and relating. In God, we are all One, bound together with compassion and love.
Joy and peace.
