The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite contemplation of the changes possible in our relationships when we focus on Love to heal brokenness.
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| Moving with Love |
The reading from the First Book of Kings details how Elijah pronounces God’s sentence on the dynasty of Ahab.
* [21:20–26] In these verses the narrator uses against the third Israelite dynasty the same condemnation formula that was uttered against the first two dynasties, those of Jeroboam (14:9–11) and Baasha (16:2–4). Part of the formula is put in Elijah’s mouth, in an oracle against Ahab and his descendants (vv. 21–22), and part of it in an aside to the reader that extends the condemnation to Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, and his whole household (vv. 23–24). The oracle against Jezebel will be fulfilled in 2 Kgs 9:36; the obliteration of the dynasty will be recounted in the bloody stories of 2 Kgs 9–11.1
Psalm 51 is a prayer for cleansing and pardon.
* [Psalm 51] A lament, the most famous of the seven Penitential Psalms, prays for the removal of the personal and social disorders that sin has brought. The poem has two parts of approximately equal length: Ps 51:3–10 and Ps 51:11–19, and a conclusion in Ps 51:20–21. The two parts interlock by repetition of “blot out” in the first verse of each section (Ps 51:3, 11), of “wash (away)” just after the first verse of each section (Ps 51:4) and just before the last verse (Ps 51:9) of the first section, and of “heart,” “God,” and “spirit” in Ps 51:12, 19. The first part (Ps 51:3–10) asks deliverance from sin, not just a past act but its emotional, physical, and social consequences 2
In the Sermon on the Mount, from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches Love for enemies.
* [5:43–48] See Lv 19:18. There is no Old Testament commandment demanding hatred of one’s enemy, but the “neighbor” of the love commandment was understood as one’s fellow countryman. Both in the Old Testament (Ps 139:19–22) and at Qumran (1QS 9:21) hatred of evil persons is assumed to be right. Jesus extends the love commandment to the enemy and the persecutor. His disciples, as children of God, must imitate the example of their Father, who grants his gifts of sun and rain to both the good and the bad.3
Molly Mattingly reflects that if we could hear the prophets of our own time with open hearts, especially when it is most difficult to listen to their words, without naming them our enemies. Would that even when we catch ourselves thinking of them as enemies, we could follow Jesus’ command to love them. Would that all of us who benefit from any kind of privilege could truly mean the words of Psalm 51, even if we did not build the system that benefits us, to atone for the suffering of those without the same privileges.
Jesus’ last words in the Gospel passage have always been difficult for me – the perfection of God is unattainable for us humans, right? But when paired with the Gospel acclamation verse, “Love one another as I have loved you,” the instruction to “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” is suddenly much more concrete. Don’t inflict violence on each other; instead, act for each other’s best interests, even to the point of giving your lives to save each other. It’s still a very tall order. But “love each other” is much easier than “be perfect.” In choosing to love one another, may we revel in God’s justice.4
Don Schwager quotes “Pray for those who persecute you,” by John Chrysostom, 347-407 A.D.
"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)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:43-48 comments that one reason that perfection can seem so unattainable is that it sounds like an either-or proposition: you’re either perfect or you’re not. But as Scripture scholars point out, the Greek word translated as “perfect” in Matthew 5:48 carries a more dynamic meaning. It indicates something you are always growing into—a process of becoming whole and complete.
So how do you grow into this perfection? Self-improvement programs won’t produce the right kind of change, and neither will piling on acts of self-denial and spiritual calisthenics. It comes as you work on using your talents and gifts in a way that glorifies the Lord and lifts up the people around you. It comes as you focus on one or two roadblocks in your life and ask for Jesus’ grace to help you resolve them: a lingering resentment, an unhealthy habit, or a skewed way of thinking about life.6
Friar Jude Winkler explains the “banana republic” nature of the kingdoms of northern Israel in the time of Elijah. Forgiveness is always available from God. Friar Jude reminds us not to seek perfectionism but to make each day better in our relationship with others than the day before.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that Paula D’Arcy leads and attends retreats where people from many different backgrounds come to face their deepest grief, insecurities, and anger to find the freedom that lies on the other side.
In January 2014, I met the fire of that inner heart. The outer circumstances were the ten days I spent at a retreat center in California with thirty other men and women. . . . We were Americans, Mexicans, Israelis, Bedouins, and Palestinians. . . . We all expressed a longing for freedom, while having little idea what that meant, or might demand. We were about to touch the fire of Spirit, embedded not only deep within our own [bodies], but in all life. I recorded our journey through those days, and this telling is excerpted from my journal. . . .
I don’t want to see that how I participate in the world is often less than love, and that the environment in which we all live is the result of our sense of entitlement and greed. I don’t want to know what freedom demands and what dedication to love and peace may require. Words from the poet Rumi haunt my thoughts: his saying that, in order to live in this world, you have to be truly and completely in love. . . .
Love does not come as theory. It moves in bodies, in nature, in the ground beneath us and the space between. True Love is not emotional. It is a different nature, waiting in us like a secret seed. The illusion is thinking that, by changing a system, an ideology, or our external circumstances, things will change. No; freedom is . . . realizing that this Love is not a symbol or an ideal; it is a living power. . . .7
Our growth in Love reduces grief, insecurity, and anger and makes our relationship with others today better than it was yesterday.
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