Today's first reading, Leviticus 19: 1-2, 17-18, exhorts us to "[b]e holy, for I, the Lord, your God am holy." How? By following the counsel given in this same passage: "Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. ..[L]ove your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." Paul, then, in the second reading, 1 Cor 3: 16-23, asks us the question: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the the Spirit of God dwells in you? ...[T]he temple of God, which you are, is holy,." In the Gospel, Jesus amplifies the teaching of Leviticus, saying to us: "[L]over your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." And he exemplifies this calling when, on the cross, Jesus prays for his enemies, asking the Father to forgive them for they know not what they are doing!
Holiness is not just something to talk about or read about. It must be lived by us by the way we treat each other, especially those who hurt us, treat us poorly, gossip about us, hold us in disdain, refuse to greet us or who have nothing good to say to us or about us. In today's Gospel, Mt. 5: 38-48, Jesus challenges us to imitate His Father, who shines the sun on the good and the bad and orders the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust. You and I are also to shine the "sun" of love, of grace and of goodness and justice upon those who sin against us. We are to radiate God's holiness within us upon everyone, especially upon those we do not particularly like or who do not like us. If we greet only to those who cherish us, Jesus is then speaking directly to us us when He says: ...[I]f you greet your brothers [or sisters] only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Be compassionate just as God is compassionate. Be caring just as God is caring. Love just as God loves!
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