Daily Gospel Reflection
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June 16, 2020
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.”
Jesus’ command to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” may be one of the best-known and least-followed teachings out of all the Gospels. Personally, the most frequent way in which I fail to follow this seminal teaching comes from my poor understanding of who my enemies are.
Most of the time, it is easy for me to think I have no enemies in my life and nobody persecuting me, and in some ways this is true; there is no Hatfield family down the stream with whom my McCoys and I live in intractable conflict; there is no Nero in power to threaten to take my life because I am a Christian.
I do not have capital-E Enemies in my life, but I usually do have that co-worker whose inconsideration leads to an increase in my own workload, a family member whose particular tone of voice too easily sets me off, or that friend with whom I have never quite shaken the grudge from a past hurt. And I have never in my life found myself to be without such people who, for reasons bad or good, just or unjust, seem to challenge my willingness and ability to love.
What Jesus tells his followers, in contrast to the wisdom of the world, is that our willingness and ability to love do not depend on the circumstances or people around us. We who were created by Love Himself and who have love as our end can live by love rather than envy, pettiness or hate.
I can love my co-worker, family member and friend — and even a more worthy or evil enemy — by giving myself to Christ and allowing Him to love His people through me. This perfection of love, revealed in its fullness on the cross, is available to those of us who not only know, but follow the Crucified One, and allow his boundless love to be proclaimed in our lives.
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. Lutgard is held as one of the greatest female mystics of her age; an encounter with the Lord in a vision changed her life.
She was born in 1182 in the Netherlands. Her father had saved money for her marriage dowry, but lost it in a bad business deal. Fearing that she would never be married, her parents sent her to live in a Benedictine convent.
She was an average girl for her time—she was attractive, liked to dress well, and amused herself with simple things. She did not appear to have a vocation to become a nun, and was allowed to live at the convent like a boarder—she could come and go and receive visitors as she liked.
One day, as she was visiting with a friend, Jesus appeared to her. He showed her his wounds, and asked her to love him alone. She accepted instantly, and changed her life—she turned away from worldly concerns and began to dedicate her energy to prayer and conversion in order to respond to this graced encounter.
The older nuns in the convent saw her fervor and said that it would not last but it only increased. She frequently saw the Lord when she was in prayer, and had a familiarity with him. If she was called away during her prayer, she would simply say, “Wait here, Lord Jesus, and I will come back as soon as I have finished this task.” She also saw Mary and several other saints. Sometimes strange signs accompanied her prayer—she would rise from the ground, or people would notice a strange light above her head.
She often felt like she was poorly responding to the opportunity she had been given to grow in holiness. After 12 years, Lutgard decided to increase her practice of the faith by moving to a convent with a stricter way of life.
Eleven years before she died, she lost her sight. She saw this loss as a gift—as a way to further detach herself from the things of this world. During one appearance, Jesus warned her of her impending death, and instructed her to prepare for it with three practices: to praise God for all she had received; to pray for the conversion of sinners; and to rely on God alone. She did these things and died on the day that was foretold to her, which was on this date in 1246.
Relics of St. Lutgard rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. This painting of her is from the collection at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art on campus and is used with permission.
St. Lutgard, who became a mystic after being sent to a convent because her dowry was lost in a scam, pray for us!
Image Credit: Anonymous (Czechoslovakian, 16th century), Saint Lutgarde of Aywières, 16th century, oil on panel. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art: Gift of Dr. Lillian Malcove, 1974.091.