Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

Getting to know Christ, we come to know how we ought to BE...

In this reading from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is continuing to give his first major sermon in the foothills of the mountains of Galilee, in a grassy meadow surrounded by what Luke calls a "great crowd". He paints a simple, but powerful portrait of himself and so too then, of you and I as well.
 
Nothing limits his generosity and love - nothing.  If we are ungrateful to him, he is still generous with us.  If we oppose him, disobey him, insult him, abandon him - he keeps on loving us.  He simply doesn't give up on us. 
 
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. If we are truly like him, "Your reward will be great!" "Gifts will be given to you, overflowing, will be poured into your lap!"  That's the kind of God we serve.  One who has no limits on his generosity, no limits on his love.  One who is always looking for more ways to shower us with his goodness.  That's our Lord.
 
Loving one’s enemies, not the destruction of the wrongdoer. 

• is not being soppy about them. 
• Nor is it about peace at any price, 
• not a question of projecting a gentle, loving image 
• but a passion to restore justice, dignity and right relationships between people. 

 
The authentic Christian is nothing else but a follower of Christ, another Christ, in fact.  So as he describes the characteristics of a Christian, Jesus indirectly gives us a portrait of himself; he shows us what kind of Lord he really is - a lavish one.

• 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. 
• 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.”