Man with 3 sons: he promised to give his entire inheritance to the one who showed the truest act of charity. 1st son saw a poor man hungry and went and bought him food, the 2nd son jumped into a river to save a drawning boy. The 3rd saw his greatest enemy had rolled out of his tent and was right on the edge of a cliff
Today’s gospel is an invitation for all of us to find the victory that Jesus accomplished by dying and sacrificing himself and succumbing to suffering. What Jesus ultimately came to do is to reveal man to man, in his full stature. Charity is not about being weak or lesser, but about being more.
We are first called to a purity of love: Jesus also calls us to the purity of love: sometimes we do something good for the sake of negotiation or for a personal agenda. Jesus calls us to the sacrifice that is completely for the good of the other. We can be just and give what belongs to someone or when we feel they deserve it, but mercy is to give of what is our own.
Choose to love is about the maturity of a full human who does not simply react but who responds its about preventing ourselves from being deformed by transforming ourselves.
There is a saying “be careful in choosing your enemies, for you will become like them” This saying speaks of two things: 1st that we have a choice about who we make enemies. At times it seems it is thrust upon us an its their actions, but we are already becoming victims when we succumb to that. The next is the very powerful: for you will become a lot like them. This truth is seem so much in the process of forgiveness. The injustice we receive from another we often want to do it to them again. We also feel that we have no choice for our feelings and reactions. Forgiveness offers an emotional maturity.
A word on forgiveness: it takes a readiness, a willingness, a choice. It is not a choice to say that what happened is not a bad thing. On the contrary, we begin as people of dignity who do not have a right to be treated unjustly or hurt. We have a right to our response of anger and the person is not in anyway entitled to our act of forgiveness. However, when we choose not to forgive, we are choosing to hold onto anger towards that person, to have that set response. That may seem good, we think it is a way to keep that person at bay and away from hurting us. However, it is we who are in prison. The anger we hold onto creates a reactionary impulse within us and an adversion. Those memories and their actions continue to dictate who we are and how we react. We are not free to respond as we wish or live free. Imagine you are going to a party you want to go to but you know someone you dislike will be there: you may avoid the party or at best go there creating a mental wall around that person, you are not free. Forgiveness is the choice to begin the process of turning that key and go out of that prison of feelings and memories. It is a process though. You first see and know the hurt that has happened and your right to your anger, then you choose to say you do not want to give away your right of anger, then you chose to leave the prison of those memories and you invite your heart to have compassion instead.
Nature hates a vacuum. To simply be apathetic is not enough. God calls and empowers us to not be victims but victors. To love in the places where we don’t receive mean to have the fullness and maturity to respond, not react. Be Merciful in the manner God is, but not to the degree. St. Catherine: loving God in others. When we love others as such a free choice, we become like God and love as he does Dorthy Day said it even more challengingly: You only love God as much as you love the person you love the least.
Man with perfectly manicured lawn. Hated Danilions he tried everything to get rid of them. He finally wrote to the USDA and asked what he can do to get ride of the dandelions. The reply came back: “We suggest you learn to love the dandelions.”
End with prayer.