From the Pastor&#039;s Desk: Feb. 20, 2022

Today we continue to reflect upon Jesus’ first major sermon in the Gospel of Luke. In the foothills of the mountains of Galilee, in a grassy meadow surrounded by what Luke calls a "great crowd", Jesus paints a simple yet powerful description of a true disciple/Christian. The identifying mark of a Christian is treating others - all others - the way God does, the way God treats us. Jesus indirectly gives us a portrait of Himself; He shows us what kind of Lord He really is - a lavish one. 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, or abandon Him- He keeps on loving us. He simply does not give up on us!

We are created in God's image, and God is love; His divine nature is all about self-giving. So the more we develop our capacity for love, for authentic, self-forgetful love, the more we will mature into what God created us to be. Therefore, this is what Jesus means when he says, “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”, so “then your reward will be great”! "Gifts will be given to you, overflowing, will be poured into your lap!" That is our Lord. That is the characteristic of a disciple/Christian.

There is a major challenge and an extremely high standard that the Lord expects from His followers. On the one hand, “stop judging others” seems like a walk in the park in comparison to loving your enemies. To love our enemies is surely a hard, unreasonable and most radical obedience that Jesus asks of His followers. And yet to love our enemies who victimize us makes us no longer victims. We become free people whose behavior is determined by no one else but Jesus Himself. “In order to defeat evil with good, in order to preserve the dignity of man, one must not use violence. It is the person who has failed to win on the strength of his heart and his reason who tries to win by force… Let us pray that we may be free from fear and intimidation, but above all from lust for revenge and violence.” (Bl. Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko)

The motivation for this love is our relationship with God as His beloved sons and daughters. This is the good news given to us by the Lord, “to you who hear I say…” This is the reality of our call as Jesus’s disciples – to love and not to hate, to bless and not to curse, to be generous and not to demand, to be compassionate and not self-centered. These bring true meaning of freedom into our lives. Freedom that is given to us as a dimension of our greatness.

This weekend in our diocese, we conduct the Bishop’s Annual Stewardship Appeal– “Love one another as I have loved you.” Bishop Estévez invites each of us to join together in support of the beautiful mission of the Church, as we are called to be good stewards of what we have been gifted. We have the opportunity to proclaim His love and faithfulness through sharing the blessings we have gratefully received from Him. Your gift should be in addition to what you are already giving to your parish. Please know that every gift is important, especially as the Church continues to serve during these times of great need.

“There is no path forward without forgiveness. Still, forgiving is one of the hardest things to do in this life. What I find humbling is that it is my need to forgive, not their need to be forgiven. Forgiveness requires incredible strength. It requires divine assistance. But you do not need all that strength at once, just a little at a time.” (Life is Messy, Matthew Kelly, p. 125/126)

I wish you a blessed week! Please pray how you can make the call to discipleship more authentic this week.

With prayers,
Fr. Andy