7TH SUNDAY HOMILY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A
Homily Theme: LOVE YOUR ENEMIES….. “You shall be righteous and perfect in the way your heavenly Father is righteous and perfect”
By: Fr. José PLAZA Monárdez
Today, the word of God teaches us that the original source mandate means to sanctity is through God: «Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect» (Mt 5,48). He inspires us and we are drawn to Him. The way is set our for us by the new law, that of Love. Love is the solid driver of our convictions, expressed so clearly in this fifth chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew.
The old law of Talion from the book of Exodus (cf. Ex 21,23-35), that was to be the law to avoid all revenge and restrict “eye for an eye”, the terror of war, is definitively superseded by the law of love. We are given, in these verses, an entire Carta Magna for moral belief; love of God and thy neighbor.
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Pope Benedict XIV tells us, «it is only through service to others that opens my eyes as to what God does for me and to how much He loves me». Jesus gives us a law whereby justice is infinite, whereby evil is not defeated by causing more hurt, but by expelling it entirely from our lives, thereby reducing its hold on us.
In order to triumph, Jesus tells us, one must have a strong hold of our own interior lives and be clear by which law we live, that of unconditional love, free and magnanimous. Love led Him to the Cross, as love triumphs over hate. This is the way to victory, without violence, with humility and abundant love as God is love translated into action. If our actions are driven by this same love that will not abandon us, Our Father will recognize us as his children. This is the perfect pat, one of superabundant love that places us in the current of the kingdom, whose most loyal expression is the sublime manifestation of overflowing love that God has drenched our hearts with through the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5,5).
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