LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.
February 19, 2023.
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – A.
“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father…”
A Yiddish proverb says: “Love your neighbor, even if he
plays the trombone.” And a Native American Shawnee proverb adds: “Do not hurt
your neighbor, for it is not him you wrong but yourself.”
Everything we do in life has a measure and a model, and it
is aimed at a goal. So too, love has its measure, model, and goal. The measure
of genuine love is oneself. Its model is the Lord Jesus. And its goal is our
salvation. No one can give others the love he or she does not have for oneself
and in oneself. We can only love others if we first love ourselves. It is not
about selfishness but a basic moral, natural, and human truth. Empty hands can
only give emptiness, that is, nothing. As says the Ivorian proverb, "The
most beautiful woman can only give what she has." The Lord Jesus gave us
love because he had it in abundance. And in so doing, he became our model and
mentor of perfection and love.
Our meditation, on this 7th Sunday in the Ordinary Time A,
is still about perfection and holiness. We are still on the mountain with the
Lord and he is still teaching us about perfection. He is at the climax of the
human dimension of holiness, it is about love. Genuine love is about what we do
to ourselves, to others, and God. It is something relational. Love is about
moving from the self to another one. And we can make this journey only if we
have it stored inside.
There is a story that in a certain diocese, people, the
faithful, and parishioners used to go to the Bishop to narrate stories about
their priests. Sometimes, not-so-true stories and the Bishop was taking
punitive measures against the priests. One day, after a long reflection, the
bishop decided to act another way around. When someone come to him with a story
or a fact against a priest, he was keeping the person and called the priest at
the very moment to come urgently to the Curia. With that, he broke up the ardor
of people speaking against the priests. He said: "Instead of talking about
your priest, talk to your priest. Instead of speaking against him, speak to
him..." Here is a way to holiness, a genuine expression of love that could
apply to all. Instead of gossiping or sharing rumors against your brother or
sister, approach your brother and sister and speak openly to them about what
you have heard.
The Lord, in the first reading, tells the people of Israel
through Moses: “You must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. You
must openly tell him, your neighbor, of his offense; this way you will not take
a sin upon yourself. You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge
against the children of your people. You must love your neighbor as yourself. I
am the Lord.” Genuine love hoarfrosts with courage. If you love your neighbor
and want him good, you will not denigrate him outside or gossip about him. And
because you will not like that people gossip about you, you will rather strive
you save the image of others.
It is an act of compassion to admonish sinners. But for this
to get all its meaning, it must be done with love. For mercy without love is a
mere revenge and coercive act. The Lord started exhorting: "Be holy, for
I, the Lord your God, am holy." Another way to say: "Be merciful, for
I, the Lord your God, am merciful." Holiness, mercy, and love have the
same expression.
The Lord Jesus, on the mountain, emphasizes the more this
call to perfection. It is about the supreme expression of love: “love your
enemies.” Holiness is about doing more than what the Law commands. The
Christian life is not a life of conformism or mediocrity. Thus, the Lord
exhorts: "You have learned how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for
tooth. But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance... You have
learned how it was said: You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I
say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you..." For, genuine love lies in the beyond measure. Love has no measure
and no limits. Only true love can touch the heart of an enemy and transform
him, through the power of prayer, into a friend.
We are speaking of how to become perfect. This call for
holiness is an invitation to go beyond what people do ordinarily. It is to do
extraordinarily the ordinary things. Let’s go back to some little historical
facts. It is said that when the Babylonians conquered the Fertile Crescent,
they expelled the Akkadians. Hammurabi ruled them, and he established his law
called the Code of Hammurabi. In this special law is also written: "An eye
for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." According to the Babylonians and the
pagans, it means that if someone sins against you, you cut off his eye, tooth,
or a part of the body, so this is revenge. But when Jesus came to earth, he
changed the law of cruelty and bloodshed to the message of love and mercy. He
challenged us to love our enemies. Jesus' purpose in the world was to save us
from sin. With the Lord, we are urged to not retaliate to sin but to show mercy
and let the vengeance to whom it truly belongs, to God.
The first reading did remind us: “Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And Paul, in the second reading insists on our need to be holy for, we are God’s temple. The Apostle says: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.” As such, our lives should reflect Christ’s perfection and wisdom. We should not let ourselves be deceived by malicious thoughts and human reasoning made of jealousies, quarrels, hypocrisies, envy, divisions, and boastfulness. Our pride rather should be in Christ and him alone. For the wisdom of Christ can be summed up in one word, LOVE. And this love is lived to the end, death and death on the Cross. Love should therefore be our pride. Love everyone. Love always. And be willing to die for love. We belong to God. We belong to Christ. So let us strive to become truly Christ-like in our words, actions, and thoughts.
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