Thursday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
The source of the life
“But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you …. Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same …. But rather, love your enemies and do good to them …. then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful. “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you …. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” Lk 6,27-38
Today we are faced with a page of the gospel truly revolutionary. Jesus calls us to live exactly the opposite of our natural inclination: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, turn the other cheek to those who slapped you, give also the coat to those who want to steal you the tunic, give without expecting any benefit in return; do not judge, do not condemn, be merciful, give what you have …. Practically it is as he would say to us: “In any circumstance of the life do the opposite of what you would expect to do and you will buy some merits in the bank of the heaven”. These are only the merits of which we will enjoy when we will be in the afterlife or we can collect the fruit also before? That promise of Jesus “For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you” does apply only to the sky or is it accomplished also in the earth? I must confess that the way of life offered to us by the gospel was the most difficult battle which I have been struggling with myself since I met the Lord. I did not always win, but when I did, I realized to be arrived at the source of the life. God is the source from which love, blessing, providence, mercy and forgiveness flow continuously and thoroughly for the all of us. It is a divine flow of life which comes to us, but which can become only a small trickle if we close our tap to the others. If, instead, we keep it completely open, it becomes a furious current of divine life which can flood the family, the workplace, the society and the world around us. We can see being born around us the fruits of the prosperity, of the goodness, of the love and of the peace. Only if we open our tap.