Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

How do you see yourself as a Christian?  Is following Jesus with total commitment and fervor effortless and painless?

Our Gospel this Sunday reminds us that Christian life is not all roses and sunshine.  Following Christ with an earnest and genuine heart entails sacrifices.  It is marked by unsurpassed love, found in Christ, with arms outstretched on the Cross.  

Christ sets before us two roads which we can take.  One path offers us an easier course, one which highlights our human inclination to love those who love us, to do good to those who do good to us, to lend to those who can give us back what is due.  This path focuses on the self.  The other path is the road which leads to the Cross, a  difficult path which entails self-renunciation for the sake of the other.  It is a road which forgets oneself and leaves behind one's pride.  Can we love our enemies, lend with no expectation of being repaid, do good to those who harm us while we depend on our human frailties alone? No.  It takes utter dependence on the power and grace of Christ who has shown us what true love is.    

Christ challenges us to do what seems to be impossible - to love and embrace those who have trespassed against us.  Treated as the worst sinner, mocked, stripped of all that He had, crucified and brought to death, Christ responded not with condemnation but with merciful forgiveness.    Instead of words of condemnation, we hear Him utter, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Christ loved His persecutors as much as the Father loved them, seeing in them the goodness of God, offering them salvation and redemption of their sins.  

In Christ, there is no judgment, only merciful compassion.  Christ desires no one to perish, but out of His great love, He longs for all to receive eternal life.  Christ commands us to love, to forgive, to stop judging, to refrain from condemning others.  Christ asks us to see Him in our brothers and sisters, even those who mistreat and oppress us.   Christ asks us to love as He loves, to be merciful as the Father is merciful - a task which is not easy, but is possible through the grace of the Eucharist and God's Spirit within us.

As we come together to celebrate the greatness of God's love in the Eucharist, let us surrender to God those who have wronged us and those whom we have offended.  Let us surrender our hearts and allow God to heal and bind up our wounds, renewing us in His merciful grace, making us true children of the Most High, blessed with overflowing gifts to share in thanksgiving and praise.
 

God is Love,

father Al