SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
February 19, 2023

Did you ever notice how some people have the uncanny ability to bring out the worst in us? They seem to know “what buttons to push.”
You know who I mean.
And it is these people that Jesus uses to stretch our understanding of being Children of God.
How we handle our enemies also stretches our spiritual muscles.

The real test is not how we treat people who share our wavelength, but how we deal with those who are on a completely different frequency.
Jesus wants us to abandon the path of resistance to evil and instead embrace love of enemies and persecutors because that is the only path to becoming Children of God.
Anyone can do what comes naturally, even scoundrels go home and kiss their babies. Jesus won’t settle for that. He is calling us to heroism and perfection. If as Mother Theresa said, if recognizing Christ in the face of others is what Jesus means by perfection, then Jesus’ call is not an impossible good.
Love is a decision. It is an intelligent decision behind which our emotions may lag. The love the Lord speaks is not romantic or emotional. It is a clear-headed judgement that beneath our differences we are linked together in the Lord and we have the same kind of responsibility to our fellow Christians as to Christ.