Homily - 7A Sunday in Ordinary Time (19 February 2023) Love your neighbor and your enemy

 

TOPIC: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AND YOUR ENEMY

1. STORY

Archbishop Dominic Tang (1908­1995) was a Jesuit priest who was given a dangerous assignment when asked to become the bishop of Canton.  In 1958 at the age of 50, he was sent to prison by the Communist government.  He remained there for 22 years.  During this time he never received a letter from relatives or friends.  In 17 years he never received a bar of soap, and he always slept on a wooden plank.  Despite all of his sufferings and hardships, he could say: “Love the Church and love the country.”   He lived the command of Jesus to love our neighbor and to love our country.

2. GOSPEL, MATTHEW 5:38­48

A) LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AND LOVE YOUR ENEMY

Jesus teaches us to love our neighbor, meaning those who love us, and also our enemies, meaning those who do not love us.  “For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?  Do not the tax collectors do the same?”  Jesus expects more from his disciples.

B)  BE PERFECT AS YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT

Jesus wants us to follow the example of our heavenly father who “makes his sun shine on the bad and the good, and causes the rain to fall on the just and unjust.”  We are asked to love generously with our whole heart.

 

3) APPLICATION TO LIFE

A) LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR AND OUR ENEMY

i) We must respect others as they are created by God.

ii) We must be kind toward others by what we say.  Use words such as thank you, please, I am sorry, and excuse me.

iii) We must forgive others as Jesus forgives us.

B) BE PERFECT JUST AS YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT

i) We must try our very best to be good to others though they might not be good to us. T his takes great effort and can only be done if we rely on God’s help. 

ii) We must not become discouraged and must ask for the gift of perseverance.   As it takes great effort to walk up a steep mountain, it takes great effort to be perfect.

 

4) CONCLUSION

Archbishop Dominic Tang lived the command of Jesus to love our neighbor and our enemy.  Jesus also lived the command to love those who are good to us and those who are not good to us.  We carry out the command of Jesus by being respectful, kind, and forgiving to all. We do this as best as we are able to and continue despite the difficulty of the command.