7th Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Samuel 26:7-9, 12-13, 22-23 | 1 Corinthians 15:45-49Â Â Â Â | Luke 6:27-38
Today’s readings center around unconditional love, love of God, love of family, love of neighbors, and, most challenging, love of the other.
Who is the other? It is people we disagree with, people who have wronged us, or people who seem dangerous to ourselves and others. We all have these people in our lives both directly and indirectly, especially now in our civic and political lives. How do we bring unconditional love into these situations? Only by the grace of God and imitating God’s merciful love can we live a life of unconditional love. Truly believing that God created us all is key to this challenge, but not impossible. Many have shown us how this is done. Namely, Jesus on the cross forgiving those who condemned him to death, David in the first reading from Samuel, the Vietnamese, Tich Nhat Hanh, the Hebrew prophets, the Buddha, Confucius, inmates condemned to death, and countless others, all forgave the other.
 The gospel today builds on last week’s beatitudes-blessed are the poor in spirit…being humble in the sight of God. Trying each and every day to mirror the Lord who is gracious, kind, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving. This is not a one and done proposition. It is a lifelong journey on the road we all travel towards infinite love.
Sr. Joan Agro, OP