Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 4, 2023
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 and sisters only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Winter days in my hometown of Cleveland (like those in South Bend) are often overcast and gray. Today, however, God’s sun is shining brightly as I write, and I find myself drawn to Jesus’ words about our God, who generously shares light and rains with all people, not solely the just or good.
There is a lavishness to God’s love which gives freely and in abundance. We are called followers of Jesus precisely to practice that same kind of love.
As a parent, I experience this kind of unconditional love from my young children time and again. I marvel at their wholehearted love and see in it a reflection of God’s lavish love for each of us and our call to love one another.
When I am not my best self, impatient or distracted, my children are quick to forgive. They embrace me in my imperfections and love me in my good and bad moments.
In the gospel, Jesus reminds us that God’s abundant love for us must translate into a love in us and through us that embraces even those we call enemies. Our love for our neighbor is not meant to be stingy or begrudging but rather given with the kind of extravagant goodness of God, whose light and love shine down on all of us.
May we pause in prayer today to give thanks for God’s love for us and to ask for the grace that we might reflect that love into the world.
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. Adrian is a martyr from Scotland who was killed by maurading Vikings during the Dark Ages.
The historical record is not clear as to Adrian’s origins. Some say he was an Irish monk and bishop who established the Church at St. Andrews. Other accounts state that he was a Hungarian monk with royal lineage who set out to evangelize Scotland.
In either case, Adrian and some companions established a number of monasteries and hermitages on the Isle lf May, which is five miles out to sea from the mainland. In 875, Vikings landed on the island and slaughtered everyone there. Adrian was killed with hundreds of other monks, and their bodies were thrown into a large, ancient burial pit.
Hundreds of years later, the island and former monastery became a pilgrimage site. The relics of a St. Adrian, martyr, rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, but it is unclear if these belong to this St. Adrian or another, whose feast day is tomorrow.
St. Adrian, you evangelized Scotland and gave your life for the faith, pray for us!