Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 24, 2019
Jesus said to his disciples:
“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,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
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.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
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 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;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”
Have you heard the saying “Hurt people hurt people?’ This is more than a catchphrase; sadly it is true. Hurt people tend to hurt others because they themselves have been hurt. In fact, each of us has been hurt or experience injustice sometime in her or his life to some degree. But how we perceive and respond to unjust situations is vital to living a life free of lingering pain.
For most of my childhood, I lived in a severely dysfunctional and abusive home. I left home hurting because of the injustices I suffered, and I wanted to lash out in malice.
One day, in my early twenties, I was reading my Bible and I came across today’s Gospel passage referring to the Father who is ”kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.”
I was curious to know more about this Father’s kindness and began a journey of learning more about him. As I read, I healed.
As I began to experience God’s love and kindness filling my heart and the need for vindication and retaliation slowly disappearing, I was compelled to share God’s merciful kindness with others.
It is important to note, none of this transformation occurred instantly. In fact, it took years to see the full manifestation of my healing. It consisted of a daily practice of choosing to forgive the person, expecting nothing in return; and then, even when I didn’t feel like it, I kept choosing: seven times, seventy times seven, and then some.
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to confront the person who abused me. I was surprised: I harbored no ill feelings toward the person. My heart was free from the hurt and toxicity that had crippled me as a child.
“Hurt people hurt people,” but also, healed people heal people.
Abuse is what happened to me, but I have learned it is not who I am. I am merciful, like my Father.
Prayer
Lord God, whose love is our forgiveness, teach us that forgiveness is not about you changing hearts but about us changing from a rock-hard heart to a human heart. Jesus on the cross said what we too should say of everyone who offends us: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Let us love the sinner but hate the sin. Love recognizes that loved people love people and only hurt people hurt people. Help us to comprehend your fatherly love that is your merciful forgiveness.
Saint of the Day
Blessed Tommaso Maria Fusco was everything you could want in a priest. Though his vocation was born in suffering, it produced new life in imitation of the resurrection.
He was born 1831 in Italy to a pharmacist and an aristocratic woman. His parents were known for their faithfulness, but by the time he was 10, he had lost both of them to disease. An uncle took care of him and provided for his education.
In 1839, St. Alphonsus Liguori was canonized, and his story captivated the young Tommaso. The boy fostered a keen desire to give his life to God in service of the Church as a priest. He entered the seminary in 1847, following an older brother who would be ordained two years later.
By the time Tommaso was ordained in 1855, he had lost several other loved ones—his uncle who had taken care of him when his parents died, as well as a younger brother. In all of this suffering, death, and grief, he gravitated to a spirituality rooted in the image of Christ crucified, which fed him through the rest of his life.
Tommaso was skilled at encouraging people in their lives of prayer, and he opened his home to start a day school for wayward boys who needed an education. He also began gathering adults at a parish for evening prayer together.
Soon, he felt called to preach the good news to a wider population. In 1857, he entered a religious community—the Missionaries of Nocera—and spent several years wandering the region, preaching and ministering. He was an effective and motivating speaker, and gathered people around him to grow in the faith. He even brought priests together to study moral theology to improve their skills in the confessional.
He established several communities of prayer and pastoral action among the laity, and founded a religious community of nuns to care for poor girls and to open an orphanage.
Towards the end of his life, his work was envied by others, even fellow priests, and he suffered attacks on his character and false accusations. He bore these accusations by emulating the patience Jesus displayed in his passion.
Tommaso died in 1891 of liver disease—he had not yet reached the age of 60. The people of Pagani, his hometown, honored him as a true missionary and founder, an “exemplary priest” who worked tirelessly for the salvation of souls. The decree they published noted that “in life he loved the poor and in death forgave his enemies.”
Above all, he clung to the suffering of Jesus, and found there a source of hope, and an example to share his love with equal measure. People who knew him recognized him as a holy man. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
Blessed Tommaso Maria Fusco, you saw hope in suffering and helped others find it there, too—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Bl. Tommaso Maria Fusco is available for use under the Free Art License. Last accessed December 6, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
