Tuesday, June 18, 2024
1 Kgs 21:17-29; Mt 5:43-48
Today’s Gospel shows the universality of Christian love.
The old dictum of ‘love for neighbors and hatred toward enemies’ is so minimalistic in scope that it does not fit in with Jesus’ expectations.
Jesus wants his followers to expand their hearts to be as generous and perfect as the Heavenly Father.
Jesus makes use of the sun and rain to symbolize the impartiality of God’s love.
While God is happy about the good, He waits with patience that the bad will repent.
As such, the patience of God should give us an urgency about returning to God in repentance.
An ancient Tamil poem reminds me of what Jesus says regarding God’s impartial and universal love.
It reads: ‘The farmer irrigates only his crops, but the grass that is nearby is also benefited. Similarly, the rain pours down only on account of good people. However, all are benefited by it’ (Moothurai by Avvaiyar, song 10).
It is not Christian if love is not impartial or universal.
Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar
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