7th Sunday in Ordinary Time [February 24, 2019] Luke 6:27-38
Last week, we listened to the core teaching of Jesus Christ, the Beatitudes. This is the set of conditions that leads a person to blessedness or true happiness. This Sunday, we discover the practical steps on how to achieve this genuine joy. Last week, we learned that Jesus’ Beatitudes is the reversal of worldly order of happiness. For the world, to become greedy rich, violently powerful, and sexually potent are the conditions for happiness. Jesus reverses the order and says that those who are generous, gentle, merciful, and chaste are the ones who are truly happy.
As the Beatitudes are the reversal of worldly order, so also Jesus’ practical teachings on how to achieve these Beatitudes. The world tells us to seek revenge, a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, but Jesus teaches us to forgive, to bless those who curse us, and to pray for those who mistreat us. The world tells us to give something and expect something in return. It is business and investment. But, Jesus instructs us to give in the generosity of heart, without counting the cost, without expecting something in return. The world tells us to love people who love us back and to hate people who hate us, but Jesus preaches that we shall love our enemies and do good to who hate us.
Jesus’ instructions are easier said than done, and in fact, they go against the natural tendencies we have. We may forgive people who do petty and unintentional mistakes, like someone who steps on our foot. However, how are we going to love someone who bullies us, lowers our self-esteem, and causes us depression? How are we going to forgive someone betrays our trust, steals from us, and makes use of us for their personal interest? How are we going to accept someone who sexually and physically abuses us? How are we going to do good to someone who murdered a member of our family? How are we going to forgive someone who never asks our forgiveness?
Human as we are, it is nearly impossible to follow Jesus’ teachings. Yet, it is not totally impossible because we are not animals who blindly follow instincts, but we are created in the image of God who is mercy. Jesus does not teach us the impossible because He knows who we truly are, the children of God. If God can be merciful to the wicked and the ungrateful, if He showers rain for the good and the bad, if He provides for the saints and sinners, we have the potential to imitate Him.
Last Sunday, January 24, in the middle of the Eucharist celebration, two bombs exploded inside and outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July, Philippines. They killed more than 20 mass-goers and injured a hundred more people. Every victim has a story, and every soul has a family. Daisy Delos Reyes, Rommy Reyes and his wife Leah are several regular mass-goers who actively served in the Church. Their bodies were blown apart and deformed. It was so painful, and the people close to them cannot but be in a rage. However, hatred will not solve anything and vengeance never bring true peace. Our brothers and sisters in Jolo were shattered, but they rise from the ashes and rebuild their Church and faith.
Quoting Ed Sheeran, an English singer and songwriter, in his song “Photograph”
“Loving can hurt, loving can hurt sometimes
But it’s the only thing that I know
When it gets hard, you know it can get hard sometimes
It is the only thing that makes us feel alive”
Deacon Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP