I’m In Love

Today in Bishop Robert Barron’s gospel reflection he says, “When you hate your enemy, you confirm him as your enemy. But when you love him in response to his hatred, you confuse and confound him, taking away the very energy that feeds his hatred.” Way easier said than done, right? Right. We need the Holy Spirit and the release of supernatural grace, love, kindness, and mercy to do the loving through us. How do we cooperate with the Holy Spirit? We continue to enter into God’s presence daily, habitually, and faithfully. Time in Their presence makes us familiar with Their fragrance, Their voice, Their nature, and Their will. This familiarity will transform into affection, and this affection causes us to fall in love, and this falling in love moves us to want to please our Beloved, and this pleasing our Beloved empowers us to love everyone including our enemy. We cannot do it on our own accord. We must operate in and with the presence of Love itself. The hardest part is the WANTING to love my enemy. So I pray and I pray and I continue to pray for the desire to love them. I pray for abundant blessings over each one by name and their family. I imagine peace between us and it also helps when I think that they are also praying blessings for me. These “practices” have completely softened my heart and that softening has turned my loathing into affection. I never anticipated that warmth toward my enemies (now called my beloveds in my prayer time) would come from practicing loving them in my heart, but God really and truly has transformed my thoughts and feelings. 

Peace is a Person and when we are intimate with that Person, we start to reflect that Person. The only way to do this is to be with Them, to sit and stare at Them, to memorize Their words, and to let Them first pour abundant love into my being. When I am IN LOVE, I cannot be out of love. There is really only one real enemy and unfortunately he is pretty good at dividing us through our earthly relationships. I want to constantly renew my in love-ness with Love so that I remain in unity with The Relationship of God. That unified relationship will unify my heart with those that the enemy has tried to break apart. When there is unity then things such as judging others, condemnation, and unforgiveness will be as foreign to us as loving our enemies once was, and the good measure we live by will be given to us. So let’s confuse and confound the enemy today by being in love. It is well with my soul. 

Reading 1 COL 3:12-17

Brothers and sisters:
Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another and forgiving one another,
if one has a grievance against another;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
And over all these put on love,
that is, the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,
the peace into which you were also called in one Body.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another,
singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or in deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Responsorial Psalm PS 150:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6

R.(6) Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise the LORD in his sanctuary,
praise him in the firmament of his strength.
Praise him for his mighty deeds,
praise him for his sovereign majesty. 
R. Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise him with the blast of the trumpet,
praise him with lyre and harp,
Praise him with timbrel and dance,
praise him with strings and pipe.
R. Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise him with sounding cymbals,
praise him with clanging cymbals.
Let everything that has breath
praise the LORD! Alleluia.
R. Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!

Alleluia 1 JN 4:12

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If we love one another,
God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 6:27-38

Jesus said to his disciples:
"To you who hear I say, love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,
pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount. 
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.

"Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you."