Daily Gospel Reflection
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June 14, 2022
Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
When I think about Jesus, I often reflect on what an incredible teacher he was. Always leading by example, sharing parables, and in today’s gospel, presenting his disciples with two considerable challenges: to love our enemies—oh, and by the way, to be perfect.
I’m not sure I would characterize anyone in my life as an enemy, but clearly, some people conduct their lives in ways that I would not. Rather than ignore and judge them from afar, Jesus calls me to spend time with them and treat them as I would my friends and family. Rather than dismiss them, Jesus challenges me to love them. If they irritate me? I am supposed to pray for them.
What a daunting command! We are human therefore fallible, but Jesus presents us then with the ultimate challenge: “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” If not for the guidance found in Jesus, it might be impossible. But knowing that loving an enemy is tricky at best, Jesus urges us to strive for perfection by imitating his life and works.
In this gospel, I find hope that while we know we will never reach perfection, we can certainly strive to be perfect. While we may be uncertain about how to love our enemies, we can undoubtedly take small steps to build relationships with all those around us.
So let us not be paralyzed by the daunting challenge of being perfect. Instead, let us commit to taking one small step in imitation of Christ and then another in the direction of our Lord’s perfection.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, your Word is active and alive, effective and enlivening. It achieves the end for which you send it. Transformed by your Word and filled with your Spirit, may our words not be empty, but may we imitate you by speaking true words of forgiveness from the heart to those who sin against us. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Methodius or Methodios was one of the early patriarchs of Constantinople. He was born in Syracuse, Sicily, sometime around the year 790 AD. Methodios was the heir to a wealthy family. He was sent to Constantinople, the capital of the empire, to receive a top-notch education and hopefully land a position in the emperor's court.
But Methodios was drawn, not to the splendor of the court of the empire, but to the monastic vocation. He became a monk and eventually was appointed the abbot of his monastery.
During the ninth century, the iconoclast controversies raged throughout the Christian communities in the East. Due to the influence of the quickly spreading Islam, the question of whether or not Christians were allowed to make and venerate icons swiftly became a fiercely debated topic. Iconoclasts insisted that images of God were pagan and should be forbidden. Iconophiles, who were led by many saints, including St. John Damascene, continued to profess the Christian belief that since God became man it was right for Christians to make images to praise him and remember him.
Leo the Armenian, an iconoclast emperor, reigned from 813-820, During his reign, Methodios served as a member of the staff of the Patriarch Nicephoros. Leo removed the orthodox, iconophilic, Patriarch Nicephoros and replaced him with an iconoclast, Theodotus. Methodios fled and returned after Leo the Armenian died.
Michael the Stammerer, who ascended to the imperial throne after Leo, was a more benevolent iconoclast who softened the penalties against the orthodox Christians. Eventually, however, potentially due to political pressure, Michael resumed the fierce persecution of orthodox iconophiles. Methodios was imprisoned. Michael's son, Theophilus, set Methodios free. Methodios continued to preach orthodoxy without troubling Theophilus, until Theophilus was defeated in an important war with his Arab neighbors. Theophilus blamed Methodios, insisting that God was punishing him for allowing an "icon-worshipper" to remain in his court. Methodios was tortured and exiled to the island of Antigonos.
When Theophilus died, the Empress Theodora ruled for her son. The Empress ordered that all who were imprisoned for icon veneration be set free. She appointed Methodios the patriarch of Constantinople. In 842, a local synod in Constantinople restored icon veneration and instituted a yearly celebration of "the Triumph of Orthodoxy" each year.
Methodios died on June 14, in the year 846 or 847. His feast day continues to be celebrated on June 14 by both the Eastern and Western Churches.
St. Methodios I of Constantinople, ecumenical patriarch who defended true Christian teaching—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Methodios I of Constantinople is used with permission from Catholic Online. Last accessed March 18, 2025.