Remarkably loving and generous

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to adopt a merciful lifestyle that is loving and generous to all.

Mercy and perfection

The reading from 2 Corinthians underlines the importance of generosity in giving.

* [8:1–5] The example of the Macedonians, a model of what ought to be happening at Corinth, provides Paul with the occasion for expounding his theology of “giving.”1 

Psalm 146 is a hymn of someone who has learned there is no other source of strength except the merciful God.

 * [Psalm 146] A hymn of someone who has learned there is no other source of strength except the merciful God. Only God, not mortal human beings (Ps 146:3–4), can help vulnerable and oppressed people (Ps 146:5–9). The first of the five hymns that conclude the Psalter.2

The Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew urges us to love our enemies.

 * [5:48] Perfect: in the gospels this word occurs only in Matthew, here and in Mt 19:21. The Lucan parallel (Lk 6:36) demands that the disciples be merciful.3

Fr Cyprian exhorts that to be perfect is to be merciful.

Matthew uses teleios, usually translated “perfect,” but for the Greek to be perfect meant being conformed to the divine ideal. And that’s where the Gospel of Luke comes in handy and ties it back to this teaching about our enemies: in Luke’s version of this story (6:36) Jesus says, ‘Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful.’ That’s what it means to be perfect––it means to be merciful! That is what conforms to the divine ideal! That’s what it means to be like God ‘who rains on the just and the unjust… Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.’ We might think our telos, our ultimate goal, is union with God, or a stilled mind, or saying our mantra for a half an hour without interruption. But Jesus tells us that our ultimate goal is to be merciful as God is merciful. That is the proof of our perfection. The fulfillment of the law is mercy.4 

A ZENIT translation of Pope Francis’ address at the September 21, 2016 general audience in St. Peter’s Square expands on living with mercy.

We heard the passage of Luke’s Gospel (6:36-38) from which the motto of this Extraordinary Holy Year is taken: Merciful as the Father. The complete expression is: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (v. 36). It is not a slogan for effect, but a commitment of life. To understand this expression well, we can compare it with the parallel one in Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus says: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5:48). In the so-called Sermon on the Mount, which opens with the Beatitudes, the Lord teaches that perfection consists in love, fulfillment of all the precepts of the Law. In this same perspective, Saint Luke specifies that perfection is merciful love: to be perfect means to be merciful. Is a person who is not merciful perfect? No! Goodness and perfection are rooted in mercy. God is certainly perfect. However, if we consider Him in that way, it becomes impossible for men to strive to that absolute perfection. Instead, having Him before our eyes as merciful enables us to understand better in what His perfection consists and it spurs us to be like Him, full of love, of understanding and of mercy.5 

Julie Kalkowski read and reread today’s scriptures. She kept tripping over the word “perfect”. She reminded herself not to “let perfect be the enemy of the good”. She realized just how critical today’s readings are to this moment in time in America and in our world. Today’s readings talk about something much harder: loving our enemies. Wow! What a game changer that would be in today’s world.

Unfortunately, I only had to turn on the news to remind myself of how easily I dismiss people who hold different views on race or climate change along with other issues. It is very easy for me to label people who think differently on these issues as ignorant or mean or greedy.  Labels help me deny their humanness and stop me from seeing them as a child of God. These labels prevent me from understanding why they believe something that runs so counter to my beliefs and values and make me deaf and blind to their fears and experiences. My less than perfect attitude widens the divide in our country, and among us around the world, and no one benefits from that.
In the first reading, St. Paul writes:  “…to test the genuineness of your love by your  concern for others.” St. Paul probably wasn’t talking our concern just for our family and friends.  He was talking about something harder, something that will push me towards perfection.6 

Don Schwager describes the Aramaic language sense of perfection and quotes “Pray for those who persecute you,” by John Chrysostom, 347-407 A.D.

Was Jesus exaggerating when he said we must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect? The original meaning of  "perfect" in Aramaic is "completeness" or "wholeness - not lacking in what is essential." God gives us every good gift in Jesus Christ so that we may not lack anything we need to do his will and to live as his sons and daughters (2 Peter 1:3). He knows our weakness and sinfulness better than we do. And he assures us of his love, mercy, and grace to follow in his ways. Do you want to grow in your love for God and for your neighbor? Ask the Holy Spirit to change and transform you in the image of the Father that you may walk in the joy and freedom of the Gospel.

"For neither did Christ simply command to love but to pray. Do you see how many steps he has ascended and how he has set us on the very summit of virtue? Mark it, numbering from the beginning. A first step is not to begin with injustice. A second, after one has begun, is not to vindicate oneself by retaliating in kind. A third, to refuse to respond in kind to the one who is injuring us but to remain tranquil. A fourth, even to offer up one's self to suffer wrongfully. A fifth, to give up even more than the wrongdoer wishes to take. A sixth, to refuse to hate one who has wronged us. A seventh, even to love such a one. An eighth, even to do good to that one. A ninth, to entreat God himself on our enemy's behalf. Do you perceive how elevated is a Christian disposition? Hence its reward is also glorious. (excerpt from THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 18.4)7 

The Word Among Us Meditation: 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 shares that Jesus set aside his glory…

so that he could give us unlimited forgiveness, access to heaven, and the ability to know God in a personal way. Because of the riches of his grace, we can walk with him and love other people as fully as he did.8 

Friar Jude Winkler explains the financial assistance for the poor from Macedonia and Corinth as a Peter’s pence . The Gospel is not an invitation to perfectionism but to Love as extensive as God’s Love is. Friar Jude distinguishes between those easy to love and our call to love those who are difficult.

Cynthia Bourgeault reflects on authentic love, distinguishing it from infatuation or romance. Scottish psychiatrist Maurice Nicoll (1884–1953), offers a basis for understanding union within the Gospel framework. He suggests that laying down one’s soul for our neighbor “is the supreme definition of conscious love.” Cynthia explains:

That is to say, through a life of conscious love—the persistent practice of laying down one’s life for the other, of the merging or union of wills in the effort to put the other first—the conditions will gradually come about for the creation of one soul.9 

If there is a secret to love’s transforming power, surely it must lie in its uncanny ability to call forth who we truly are. “Love always seeks the ultimately real,” says Beatrice Bruteau; it has an infallible knack for pushing through dim outer shells and inner dark places and bringing the essence of who we are into the light.

References

1	(n.d.). 2 Corinthians, chapter 8 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/2corinthians/8
2	(n.d.). Psalms, chapter 146 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/146
3	(n.d.). Matthew, chapter 5 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/5
4	(n.d.). be perfect, be merciful | New Camaldoli Hermitage. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from https://contemplation.com/be-perfect-be-merciful/
5	(2016, September 21). General Audience: Be Perfect (Merciful) as Your Heavenly Father Is .... Retrieved June 18, 2019, from https://zenit.org/articles/general-audience-be-perfect-merciful-as-your-heavenly-father-is-perfect-merciful/
6	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries - Creighton University. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
7	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
8	(n.d.). Meditations - The Word Among Us. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/06/18/
9	(2019, June 18). Laying Down Our Life — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from https://cac.org/laying-down-our-life-2019-06-18/