Covenant of Care

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today remind us of the mission of Christians to care and extend the love to those we may consider enemies.

Care and Enemies

1st Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy proclaims today you have accepted the LORD’s agreement.

l. [26:16–19] Dt 7:6; 8:6; 10:12–13; 11:22; 14:2; 27:9; 28:1, 9; 29:12–13; Ex 6:7; 19:5–6; 24:7; Lv 26:12; 2 Sm 7:24; Jer 7:23; 31:33; Ez 11:20; Hos 2:23. (Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 26 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 119 praises God for such splendid laws and instruction for people to live by.

* [Psalm 119] This Psalm, the longest by far in the Psalter, praises God for giving such splendid laws and instruction for people to live by. The author glorifies and thanks God for the Torah, prays for protection from sinners enraged by others’ fidelity to the law, laments the cost of obedience, delights in the law’s consolations, begs for wisdom to understand the precepts, and asks for the rewards of keeping them. (Psalms, PSALM 119 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus exhorts us to Love of 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.

* [5:46] Tax collectors: Jews who were engaged in the collection of indirect taxes such as tolls and customs. See note on Mk 2:14.

* [5:47] Jesus’ disciples must not be content with merely usual standards of conduct; see Mt 5:20 where the verb “surpass” (Greek perisseuō) is cognate with the unusual (perisson) of this verse.

* [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. (Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 26 | USCCB, n.d.)

Edward Morse comments that the human condition is regularly wayward and in tension with God’s laws, even when we know better. Mounting evidence demonstrates that keeping our side of this bargain is likely impossible. We require help.

Fellow pilgrims, take courage. We have the sacraments to sustain us and encouragement from one another to help us when the journey is difficult. Do not be dismayed at these hard messages. Their hardness is like a tillage tool that can break through the compaction that covers our hearts and the dullness that affects our sensibilities. Hardness and dullness prevent us from participating in the life to which we are called. We need grace to transform us and to show us how we can love, forgive, and be fully alive. We are all in messes that we have helped to create, and we need a Savior to rescue us and dispense mercy instead of the justice we deserve.

Our Lord is calling us to come, to listen, and to learn from Him. And He asks us to come now, today. Let us arise and respond to His call. (Morse, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “The gift to love all people - even enemies,” by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"Beg God for the gift to love one another. Love all people, even your enemies, not because they are your brothers and sisters but that they may become such. Love them in order that you may be at all times on fire with love, whether toward those who have become your brothers and sisters or toward your enemies, so that by being beloved they may become your brothers and sisters." (excerpt from Sermon on 1 John 10,7) (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler was not available at publication time.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:43-48 As we cooperate with the Spirit, we grow in our ability to love as he loved—even to love those who hate us. We gradually fulfill the purpose for which he made us. And that’s perfection!

Remember, Jesus knows your weaknesses, limitations, and sins. But he also knows the power of his Holy Spirit and the sanctifying, “perfecting” grace he offers you every time you encounter him in the sacraments. He knows that this kind of love is possible. He is with you to help you be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. So let him sustain you. Let him strengthen you. And above all, let him love you!

“Jesus, open my heart to your grace today, that I might begin to love more perfectly.” (Meditation on Matthew 5:43-48, n.d.)

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Rabbi Sharon Brous who recounts an experience of learning how to travel light. The Isrealites were carrying heavy, broken stone tablets on their backs through the desert … for forty years? There’s nothing trivial about that.

The lesson here is not only that those shards retained their holiness. It’s that they may have been even more precious than the intact tablets. It’s the broken pieces that tell a story of loss and failure, rage and redemption. They remind us how much we can hurt those we love, and they represent the possibility of forgiveness. They are imperfect, just as we are. An eternal reminder of how fragile it all is….

The holy ark is the model for the hearts we strive to cultivate: capacious enough to hold the whole and the broken, all at once. There is simply no way to disentangle the two. Life is a sacred fusion of sorrow and celebration. And all of it is holy. (Rohr, n.d.)

We seek the inspiration of the Spirit to engage the world with gratitude and thanksgiving as our initiation into loving our enemies.

References

Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 26 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 28, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/26?16 

Matthew, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 28, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/5?43 

Meditation on Matthew 5:43-48. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved February 28, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/02/28/1510037/ 

Morse, E. (n.d.). Daily Reflections. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved February 28, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-february-28-2026 

Psalms, PSALM 119 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 28, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/119?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 28, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/exodus-a-journey-for-freedom-weekly-summary/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Love and Pray for Your Enemies. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 28, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/  

Working with our Talent

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to express gratitude for the gifts and people we have encountered in our journey.

Working with our Talent

 

The reading from the Book of Proverbs is an ode to a capable wife.

 

* [31:10–31] An acrostic poem of twenty-two lines; each line begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. As with many other acrostic poems in the Bible, the unity of the poem is largely extrinsic, coming not from the narrative logic but from the familiar sequence of letters. The topic is the ideal woman described through her activity as a wife. Some have suggested that the traditional hymn extolling the great deeds of a warrior has been transposed to extol a heroic wife; the focus is on her exploits. She runs a household distinguished by abundant food and clothing for all within, by its trade (import of raw materials and export of finished products), and by the renown of its head, her husband, in the community. 1

Psalm 128 praises the happy home of the faithful.

 

* [Psalm 128] A statement that the ever-reliable God will bless the reverent (Ps 128:1). God’s blessing is concrete: satisfaction and prosperity, a fertile spouse and abundant children (Ps 128:2–4). The perspective is that of the adult male, ordinarily the ruler and representative of the household to the community. The last verses extend the blessing to all the people for generations to come (Ps 128:5–6).2

The reading from the First Letter to the Thessalonians declares that we know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

 

* [5:5] Children of the light: that is, belonging to the daylight of God’s personal revelation and expected to achieve it (an analogous development of imagery that appears in Jn 12:36).3

The Gospel of Matthew is the Parable of the Talents in which we are urged to make use of the gifts we have received from God.

 

* [25:20–23] Although the first two servants have received and doubled large sums, their faithful trading is regarded by the master as fidelity in small matters only, compared with the great responsibilities now to be given to them. The latter are unspecified. Share your master’s joy: probably the joy of the banquet of the kingdom; cf. Mt 8:11.4

 Peter Edmonds SJ, a tutor in biblical studies at Campion Hall, University of Oxford, comments that we can be grateful for the Gospel of Matthew, which is truly the work of one who was a scribe trained for the kingdom of heaven who brought out of his treasure what is new and what is old (13:52).

 

Unlike Luke, Matthew wrote no ‘Acts of the Apostles’ but he does give hints in his gospel of what would happen in this earliest period of the church. The second part of the ‘mission discourse’ anticipates persecution from both Jew and Gentile (10:17-18) and divisions in families because of the gospel (10:21). The explanation of the parable of the sower warns of failure to understand, of faith that lacks roots, of the cares of the world and lure of wealth choking the gospel message (13:18-23). The parables of the final discourse give vivid pictures of foolish and wise bridesmaids, of talents used and talents neglected, lessons all designed to encourage faith and perseverance in the life of the church that would last from the resurrection to the second coming (25:1-30).5

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that the Reign of God is the subject of Jesus’ inaugural address (see Mark 1:15, Matthew 4:17, and Luke 4:14–30), his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), and the majority of his parables. Once this guiding vision of God’s will became clear to Jesus, which seems to have happened when he was about thirty and alone in the desert, everything else came into perspective. In fact, Matthew’s Gospel says, “From then onwards” (4:17), Jesus began to preach.

 

“Thy Kingdom come” means very clearly that God’s realm is something that enters into this world, or, as Jesus puts it, “is close at hand” (Matthew 10:7). We shouldn’t project it into another world. What we discover in the New Testament, especially in Matthew’s Gospel, is that the Kingdom of God is a new world order, a new age, a promised hope begun in the teaching and ministry of Jesus—and continued in us.6

Our contemplation in gratitude to those who have shared their gifts with us should conclude with an affirmation for those faithful servants of the Lord who make our lives full.

 

References

 

1	(n.d.). Proverbs, CHAPTER 31 | USCCB. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/proverbs/31
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 128 | USCCB. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/128
3	(n.d.). 1 Thessalonians, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1thessalonians/5
4	(n.d.). Matthew, CHAPTER 25 | USCCB. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/25
5	(2009, September 22). Matthew: a saint for today | Thinking Faith: The online journal .... Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20090922_1.htm
6	(2020, November 15). The Reign of God — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://cac.org/the-reign-of-god-2020-11-15/

 

Errors of Entitlement

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today nudge us to reflect on the areas where our gratitude for events in our daily life has been tinged by a sense of entitlement.

Grateful for gifts

The passage from the Book of Wisdom has Kings stand in for the people of Israel who should seek Wisdom on this matter.

 * [6:1] Kings…magistrates: note the inclusion with v. 21 (“kings”). The address to earthly powers is in accord with the opening (1:1), but the true audience remains the Jewish community.1

In Psalm 82, God arises in the heavenly assembly to rebuke the unjust “gods.

* [Psalm 82] As in Ps 58, the pagan gods are seen as subordinate divine beings to whom Israel’s God had delegated oversight of the foreign countries in the beginning (Dt 32:8–9). Now God arises in the heavenly assembly (Ps 82:1) to rebuke the unjust “gods” (Ps 82:2–4), who are stripped of divine status and reduced in rank to mortals (Ps 82:5–7). They are accused of misruling the earth by not upholding the poor. A short prayer for universal justice concludes the Psalm (Ps 82:8).2 

Jesus comments on giving thanks as He cleanses ten lepers in the Gospel of Luke.

* [17:11–19] This incident recounting the thankfulness of the cleansed Samaritan leper is narrated only in Luke’s gospel and provides an instance of Jesus holding up a non-Jew (Lk 17:18) as an example to his Jewish contemporaries (cf. Lk 10:33 where a similar purpose is achieved in the story of the good Samaritan). Moreover, it is the faith in Jesus manifested by the foreigner that has brought him salvation (Lk 17:19; cf. the similar relationship between faith and salvation in Lk 7:50; 8:48, 50).3 

Steve Scholer asks can we be safe in assuming this reading is only about officials who are constantly in the public view, issuing orders and deciding guilt or innocence, or is there a deeper meaning? We all wear crowns, be it the crown of a spouse, a parent, a friend, a co-worker or even the crown of a stranger. And our heads may also be heavy with the responsibility that comes with a crown, but there a way to lessen its weight and burden.

St. Ignatius tackled this issue almost 500 years ago and gave us a roadmap to lightening the weight of the crown. From the beginning of the Jesuit order, Ignatius believed all members of the Society of Jesus were called to lead. But to be an effective leader, certain skills needed to be developed. What Ignatius said then is still true today: The key to leading is in understanding our own strengths and weaknesses. That knowledge and deeper understanding come through daily reflection – looking for God’s presence in our lives and asking for the help of the Spirit to guide our interactions.
Ignatius also stressed that leaders were those who engaged others with dignity, a positive attitude and an open heart, ready to love and accept. He charged the Society to govern using "all the love and modesty and charity possible." Ignatius knew that fear was not how one leads, but rather, by being mutually supportive and creating positive environments fueled by acceptance and affection.4 

Don Schwager reflects on the question: Why did only one leper out of ten return to show gratitude?

Gratefulness, a word which expresses gratitude of heart and a thankful disposition, is related to grace - which means the release of loveliness. Gratitude is the homage of the heart which responds with graciousness in expressing an act of thanksgiving. The Samaritan approached Jesus reverently and gave praise to God. Ingratitude leads to lack of love and kindness, and intolerance towards others If we do not recognize and appreciate the mercy and help shown to us, we will be ungrateful and unkind towards others. Ingratitude is forgetfulness or a poor return for kindness received. Ingratitude easily leads to lack of charity and intolerance towards others, as well as to other vices, such as complaining, grumbling, discontentment, pride, and presumption. 5

He quotes “Cleansing of the ten lepers,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).

"Why did [Jesus] not say, 'I will, be cleansed,' as he did in the case of another leper (Luke 5:13), instead of commanding them to show themselves to the priests? It was because the law gave directions to this effect to those who were delivered from leprosy (Leviticus 14:2). It commanded them to show themselves to the priests and to offer a sacrifice for their cleansing. He commanded them to go as being already healed so that they might bear witness to the priests, the rulers of the Jews and always envious of his glory. They testified that wonderfully and beyond their hope, they had been delivered from their misfortune by Christ's willing that they should be healed. He did not heal them first but sent them to the priests, because the priests knew the marks of leprosy and of its healing." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILIES 113-16)5 

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 17:11-19 notes that in today’s Gospel, Jesus gives a valuable gift to ten people who have a devastating disease—the gift of healing. He healed them because he loved them, and he wanted to do something good for them—the first reason for any gift. But it seems that only one of these ten grasped the second reason for this gift; he’s the only one who came back to thank Jesus and offer him worship. Out of all of these people, only this fellow understood that Jesus was inviting him to a closer relationship with him.

The same holds true today. God has given us many, many gifts: friends, family, a unique set of talents and abilities, his Church, and various signs of his love and presence in our lives. God has given all of them to us freely, out of love and a desire to draw us closer to his heart. Each and every one of these gifts contains within it a special invitation for us to learn more about him and to deepen our relationship with him. His gift of family reveals his commitment to us; friends show us the joy we can have by just being with him; our talents move us to want to serve him; the Church provides a home for us to live with him. And the list goes on.6

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the action of some in authority expected to enact justice and serve others, but they refuse. Those to whom much is given are expected to do much. Friar Jude reminds us that Luke is urging us to think outside our boundaries and consider our treatment of the “Good Taliban”.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, connects to extending our boundaries as he comments that a creative life demands that we take risks. They may be calculated risks; they may yield entrepreneurial fruits, or they may simply enrich our own lives. Creative risk taking might not turn our life upside down but, rather, might right the drifting ship of our soul. When we make ourselves available for the inflow of [Spirit], we accept not only her generative power but also her ability to [overcome] whatever stands in the way of our full aliveness.

You do not always have to suffer for art. You are not required to sacrifice everything for beauty. The creative life can be quietly gratifying. The thing is to allow ourselves to become a vessel for a work of art to come through and allow that work to guide our hands. Once we do, we are assenting to a sacred adventure. We are saying yes to the transcendent and embodied presence of the holy.
Many of us seem to think we are too “old” to create something “new,” which is really too bad. Although my writing is certainly a creative act, it has been a long time since I have expressed myself freely with color, movement, or sound. If I’m honest, I would probably feel a little silly trying again at my age, but Mirabai Starr’s writing reminds me that I am the poorer for it. What joy, satisfaction, or even embodied presence are we missing out on by our self-consciousness?7  

Gratitude and affirmation of others are practices that act against our tendency to act out of a sense of entitlement.

References

1	(n.d.). Wisdom, chapter 6. Retrieved November 13, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/wisdom/6
2	(n.d.). Psalms, chapter 82. Retrieved November 13, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/82
3	(n.d.). Luke, chapter 17 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 13, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/17
4	(n.d.). Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries .... Retrieved November 13, 2019, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 13, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
6	(n.d.). Meditations - The Word Among Us. Retrieved November 13, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/11/13/
7	(2019, November 13). The Creative Life — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 13, 2019, from https://cac.org/the-creative-life-2019-11-13/