Do we trust that God’s blessing is the best thing for our lives? If so today’s first reading brings out a question, do we follow His blessing or something else? This reading shows how much God wants to bless us. If we believe His blessings are vital, then we will give and share suitably. God wants us to have a totally new attitude and this is mentioned in the last section of Deuteronomy 26.

The perfect blessings are for those who fulfill the promise. It is contingent upon obedience. In our current context, we will think of this in terms of our spirit of giving. Jesus said, “It is more holy to give than receive.” God’s blessing is more valuable than anything earned on earth. He will give His blessing in a multitude of unanticipated ways. If we think it will mean this or that, we might be disappointed but one will not be disappointed in the end. These words go beyond speaking about what is said earlier in chapter 26.

Today’s Gospel; proclamation comes from the Sermon on the Mount. It is a passage, which many find hard, too idealistic or just downright meaningless. It is important that we understand what ‘love’ here means. In Greek, it is the word agape, a deep concern for the virtuous of the other that reaches out even if there is no return. Jesus tells us that we need to try to love people in the same way. It is vital to note that he is not telling us to be IN love with those who hurt us or to like them or to have them as our friends. That would be impractical and irrational to ask. However, if we just care for those who are nice to us how are we different from others? Even members of a murder gang, people with no religion or morals do the same. However, we are called to imitate the God in whose image we have been made.

What do I gain by detesting my enemy? Then there are two of us. Why should I allow another person’s hate to affect my feelings towards them? A person, who hates, is a person who is suffering, a person who is doing more harm to self – rather than to the supposed enemy. Surely, it is much better to pray for that person than to hate them back; to bring about healing and reconciliation rather than deepen the wound on both sides.

Prayer: Abba Father teach us to be perfect as you are perfect and to love each other with agape love. Amen