Mt 5:43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Mt 5:43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Be Generative
When Jesus asks us to pray for ones who hurt us, love those who may not love us, and greet those who may not be like us, he asks us to be generative as God is generative. Actions that are generative allow for something new, something to change, some hope. Actions of the opposite sort – injury, hate, separation – leave us without hope, without change, and without possibilities. It becomes clear such actions are not of God since they are not life-giving.
What do I want to do today to bring about something new, to encourage positive change, and to foster hope?
—Fr. Chris Manahan, SJ, is the Midwest Province provincial assistant for senior Jesuits and pre-tertians and former director of Jesuit Retreat House on Lake Winnebago, Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He is on the board of Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House.
Prayer
Jesus, guide me through my day. Make my thoughts, words, and actions reflect your presence in me and the people I meet. Help me see what following you means in my everyday life. Amen.
—Fr. Chris Manahan, SJ