Radical Love Is Possible!

Saturday, March 15, 2025

Dt 26:16-19; Mt 5:43-48

Today’s Gospel highlights that the love of enemies is divine love in its radical form. 

When we read the text, it looks as if Jesus is asking us to do the impossible by asking us to love our enemies. 

In my opinion, we would be mistaken if we think that Jesus demands of us something impossible. 

I believe that Jesus has not asked us for something impossible, though it is difficult. 

There are at least two reasons why I believe so. 

1.Jesus does not demand of us something that he himself has not practiced. Moments before his death, Jesus forgave his enemies from the cross. Jesus preached what he practiced and practiced what he preached. Hence, he invites his disciples to imitate his example. 

2. There are umpteen examples to show that ordinary people became extraordinary exemplars thanks to the radical love and forgiveness that they practiced in their lives. What is more important is that most of them drew courage from their faith to be capable of such sacrifice. 

I like to cite the example of Corrie Ten Boom (1982-1993), a Christian Jew living in Holland during the Nazi occupation of the country. The deeply religious woman was firmly convinced that colluding with the Nazis was to become an accomplice of the evil forces. Hence, the Christian woman, while helping the Jews hide and escape from arrest and deportation by the Nazi authorities, fiercely resisted the Nazi persecution by working closely with the Dutch resistance. However, a betrayal ruined her life and family. On a fateful night, a man named Jan Vogel, a Dutch informant, knocked on their door in great panic and terror. With tears rolling down his cheeks, he told them that his family was in danger of being taken away by the Nazis and the only possibility of saving them was by bribing a corrupt police officer. He begged Corrie’s family for valuable objects to pay the bribe. Totally clueless about who he was, Corrie’s family helped him with whatever they could possibly give. Before long, the family discovered it to be a trap. The man who begged them went to the Nazi police and betrayed Corrie’s family for assisting in his proposed escape. Corrie and all her family members were arrested, and they ended up in a German concentration camp. All her family members died there, leaving her to be the lone survivor by a clerical error. When she returned home after her release in 1944, Corrie spent a considerable length of time vigorously tracking down the man who had betrayed her family. She eventually found him. Her only reason for wanting to meet him was to forgive him. She was radically convinced that it was only through forgiveness, and not through resentment, that she could continue to live in freedom and peace of mind. It was she who said of today’s Gospel that ‘When He [Jesus] tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.’

Corrie’s life is a loud reminder that Jesus has not asked of us something impossible. There are countless examples to show that we can do it. 

If we can ignore the misleading interpretations of a retributive and vengeful God, it is possible for us to discover the God who is an anguished companion and a fellow sufferer in those who unjustly suffer and understand His invitation to build a contrast society of love and peace. 

It is this Heavenly Father whom Jesus calls ‘perfect’ and invites us to imitate. 

Let us pray that we may practice that radical love which enables us to love even our enemies.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar