Love Your Enemies

JUNE 20, 2023 TUESDAY 
Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time (Green)
CYCLE A - YEAR I
Lectionary: 366

Reading 1
2 Cor 8:1-9

We want you to know, brothers and sisters, of the grace of God
that has been given to the churches of Macedonia,
for in a severe test of affliction,
the abundance of their joy and their profound poverty
overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
For according to their means, I can testify,
and beyond their means, spontaneously,
they begged us insistently for the favor of taking part
in the service to the holy ones,
and this, not as we expected,
but they gave themselves first to the Lord
and to us through the will of God,
so that we urged Titus that, as he had already begun,
he should also complete for you this gracious act also.
Now as you excel in every respect,
in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness,
and in the love we have for you,
may you excel in this gracious act also.
I say this not by way of command,
but to test the genuineness of your love
by your concern for others.
For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that for your sake he became poor although he was rich,
so that by his poverty you might become rich.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 146:2, 5-6ab, 6c- 7, 8-9a

R.(1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.

Praise the LORD, my soul!
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.

R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.

Blessed he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.

R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.

Who keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.

R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.

The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
the LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.

R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia
Jn 13:34

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Mt 5:43-48

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."

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

Jesus teaches his followers about a new criterion of love which is to be the standard for the early Christian community and for us. It is not enough just to ‘love those who love you’. To truly live as disciple of Jesus demands that we reach out to others with an all-embracing love, including those who make life difficult for us.

"If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us."

(1 John 4:12)

PRAYER:

Lord, you warn us against tribal or racial exclusiveness: that is where we love only our kith and kin, and reject outsiders. For you there are no outsiders. Your sun shines and your rain falls on all alike. We are to open our hearts even to those who hate us.