Forgive and Give ~reflex on Luke 6:27-38
We are created in the image and likeness of God, and the goal of life is to realize this image and likeness and act according to the truth of it. The first step is coming to some understanding of God Himself.
So, who and what is God? God is love. Not a sappy, superficial, social media kind of love, but a true, self-giving, self-sacrificing love that pours out everything for the good of the other. The more we open ourselves to this kind of love and the more we pour ourselves out for others, the more fulfilling our life will be. We must grow gradually into this true self that God created us to be.
How can we know we are growing in this love and living up to our high calling? It isn’t the size of our paycheck or calculated by the number of our friends or the praises we receive from others; it isn’t gauged by the warmth of our sentiments or the intensity of our sacrifices or even the depth of our prayer. Jesus tells us that the way to identify the state of our hearts is by the way we treat others – especially those we consider enemies! We must be quick to give of our treasure, our time, and our talent, even to those who are against us. We must be quick to act, to forgive, to excuse others and to speak well of them; and we must be slow to judge and condemn.
Why? Because that is the way to act as “children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.”
We cannot possibly do this on our own – our fallen nature has curled us in on ourselves and made us almost hopelessly selfward. But we are not on our own! God’s help is available to us for the asking, and empowers us to “be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.” True mercy is love in the face of need, and does not consider whether the one to whom we give is “deserving” – because we cannot judge this! “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.” Instead, forgive and give.
From whom do we withhold our love and forgiveness? Where are the places in our hearts that we feel the deepest need to guard and defend? How can we surrender those places to the light and fire of the Holy Spirit so that we are free at last to love others without holding back, even those who have hurt us in some way?
Today, the Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary, let us ask her to intercede for us, so that our hearts might become more aligned with the Heart of Jesus.