Grow Up Already | June 14, 2016

June 14, 2016

We have been looking at Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount and so far he has given us the Beatitudes or a list of ways to be like him, and he has taught us 5 out of 6 things that we can do above, beyond, and better than the requirements of the law, that will also help us to be more like him. He saved the hardest one for last; #6 is “Love Your Enemies”. I don’t know about you, but when I see the word “enemy” I immediately think of things like ISIS or Al-Qaeda or Nazis or some big huge enemy of the country or the world at large and the concept of having an enemy seems far away and not very relevant to me personally. With that being said, this lesson becomes kind of impossible to practice because I will probably never really find myself nose to nose with the enemy to be able to show them love.  So then I started to make a mental list of those people in my life that might qualify as an actual personal enemy to me, and that’s when it started to get real.

While my list is not very long, the thought of actually loving some of the people on it feels insurmountable (LOL, Sermon on the Mountable!!). Jesus knows this about us and that is why he has already given us some important building blocks to get us to this point where we can actually fathom living this last one. The Sermon On The Mount can be renamed “Grow Up Already” as it is a seminar in how to attain spiritual maturity, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

I worked as a waitress at a retirement home for five years when I was high school/college age and my favorite thing to do was to ask the residents for their advice on all kinds of life issues because their perspective on things was enlightened, rooted in real life experience, and they were able to look at the whole picture.  Their “maturity” helped me to see things differently and they made me want that gift of wisdom. One of the signs of a truly enlightened person is their ability to love their enemies. The best example (other than Jesus) that immediately comes to mind is when St. John Paul II personally went to the prison to forgive his assassin face to face. I wonder if JPII reviewed the Sermon On The Mount before he went. I wonder how many hours he spent in prayer to get him to that point. I wonder if he wrestled with God over it. I wonder how this act of mercy transformed his enemy’s heart.

This growing up stuff is not easy, but when we practice it, we can become saints who’s spiritual maturity allows them to love their enemies, settle their matters quickly, be faithful to their covenants, let their yeses mean yes and their no’s mean no, de-escalate drama and scandal, and transform the hearts of others.

Back to my list of “enemies”; Jesus isn’t asking me to call them all up and spend the day at Disneyland together, but I can love them in lots of other ways. Prayer is the deepest way and in the past several months my prayer for my “enemies” has taken on a new nature. My prayer used to sound something like this: “Lord, I pray that he or she stops being an idiot”, or “Lord, help them to see that I am right”, or “Lord, keep them far away from me”. But recently, my prayer has become just a little more mature: “Lord, I pray that this new job will give him the peace that he’s been looking for”, or “Lord, grant them true joy, true love, true happiness”, or “Thank you for the things I have learned from this relationship.” At first these were just words that I spoke with little conviction behind them, and now they have transformed into actual desires with strong conviction in my heart. This kind of love for my “enemy” has changed something with in me and helped me to grow in ways I never thought possible, and they weren’t possible without grace. Olaf, the snowman, from the movie Frozen describes true love as, “True love is putting someone else’s needs before yours.”

Jesus wants us to wrap our hearts around this and practice it. My favorite part in today’s gospel is a real Jesus zinger, “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?” Yikes. I know we can do better than that. We are growing up, friends, and isn’t it fun to be in this together. Have an enlightened day.

Reading 1 1 KGS 21:17-29

After the death of Naboth the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite:
“Start down to meet Ahab, king of Israel,
who rules in Samaria.
He will be in the vineyard of Naboth,
of which he has come to take possession.
This is what you shall tell him,
‘The LORD says: After murdering, do you also take possession?
For this, the LORD says:
In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth,
the dogs shall lick up your blood, too.’”
Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me out, my enemy?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the LORD’s sight,
I am bringing evil upon you: I will destroy you
and will cut off every male in Ahab’s line,
whether slave or freeman, in Israel.
I will make your house like that of Jeroboam, son of Nebat,
and like that of Baasha, son of Ahijah,
because of how you have provoked me by leading Israel into sin.”
(Against Jezebel, too, the LORD declared,
“The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.”)
“When one of Ahab’s line dies in the city,
dogs will devour him;
when one of them dies in the field,
the birds of the sky will devour him.”
Indeed, no one gave himself up to the doing of evil
in the sight of the LORD as did Ahab,
urged on by his wife Jezebel.
He became completely abominable by following idols,
just as the Amorites had done,
whom the LORD drove out before the children of Israel.

When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments
and put on sackcloth over his bare flesh.
He fasted, slept in the sackcloth, and went about subdued.
Then the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite,
“Have you seen that Ahab has humbled himself before me?
Since he has humbled himself before me,
I will not bring the evil in his time.
I will bring the evil upon his house during the reign of his son.”

Responsorial Psalm PS 51:3-4, 5-6AB, 11 AND 16

R. (see 3a) Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.”
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my guilt.
Free me from blood guilt, O God, my saving God;
then my tongue shall revel in your justice.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Alleluia JN 13:34

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MT 5:43-48

Jesus said to his disciples:
“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.”