💖 HOMILY - JUNE 18 💖

First Reading - 1 Kings 21:17-29

Gospel - Matthew 5:43-48

Today’s readings invite us to make three types of correct choices in life. Firstly, we are advised to choose the “Golden Rule,” including loving our enemies and being sensitive to the feelings and needs of others. Secondly, we need to choose unconditional love instead of jealousy and hatred in our relationships with others. Thirdly, we must choose forgiveness instead of revenge and retaliation.

The first reading demonstrates that every wrong action is noticed by God. The heinous crime of getting Naboth killed unjustly by King Ahab and Queen Jezebel provokes the anger of God, who sends the prophet to pronounce punishment against the king and queen for their unjust actions. However, the king repents for his mistakes, and God averts the punishment until his death. On one hand, the reading presents God as a just God who does not tolerate evil against His people. On the other hand, it also presents God as a forgiving God who is ever ready to forgive if a person repents for his sins. The merciful nature of God prevails. We are invited to imitate God in His merciful love.

Today’s Gospel gives us Jesus’ revolutionary moral teaching about correct choices in our human relationships, based on the necessity of following the “Golden Rule” and our obligation to behave like the children of a loving, forgiving, merciful, and compassionate Heavenly Father. Our relationships in our communities become truly Christian when we follow the Golden Rule: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Jesus amplifies the Golden Rule by giving additional commands for us to follow as God’s children, explaining Christian love: “Love your enemies… Do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you.” Jesus orders us to love our enemies and to be merciful and compassionate to everyone, as God our Father is loving, merciful, and compassionate. He concludes by instructing us to stop judging others and start forgiving all who offend us.

Dear friends, we need to practice the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule asks us to do to others what we would like them to do to us. If we obey, love others, and express that love with loving words and deeds, we will start receiving the same love from others in higher intensity. Further, if we want others to forgive our offenses, our words of criticism, and our thoughtless judgments against them, then we should start forgiving their offenses against us and start appreciating their good qualities while encouraging and supporting them in their needs.

We need to pray for the strength to forgive. At every Mass, we pray the “Our Father,” asking God to forgive us as we forgive others. Our challenge is to overcome our natural inclinations to hate family members, co-workers, neighbors, and all who offend us. To meet that challenge, we need to ask God for the strength to forgive each other. We must forgive because only forgiveness truly heals us. If we remember how God has forgiven us, it will help us forgive others. Let us start forgiving right now by curbing the sharp tongue of criticism, suppressing the revenge instinct, and bearing patiently the irritating behavior of a neighbor.