Love Even The Unlovable

𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐄 𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝟐 𝐂𝐨𝐫 𝟖:𝟏-𝟗

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟒𝟔:𝟐-𝟗 “𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝟓:𝟒𝟑-𝟒𝟖

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: "𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖." (𝒗.44) 

         Many who continue to harbor grudges in their hearts against those who may have wronged them must have found yesterday’s Gospel reading to be a difficult act to follow as Jesus commanded us to stretch their patience a little longer than usual.

         Today’s Gospel passage is even tougher and will definitely be a problem for those who are enslaved by their hatred, anger, resentment and bitterness towards those with whom they are in conflict with because today Jesus is asking us to: “𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖.” (𝒗.44)        

         As we are on the subject of love, it would be much easier for us to grasp what Jesus meant when he tells us to love our enemies by looking back and see how love was understood in the time of Jesus. As Greek was the common language at the time, the Greeks apply four different words for love.

         Love could mean "𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆" which was used to describe family affection. Then there is also "𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒔" which describe the passion of human love of a man towards the opposite sex. Love could also be referred to as a "𝒑𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒂" kind of love which was the warmest kind of love that connotes real love and tender affection which the Jews regard as the highest kind of love.

         There was, however, a fourth type of love and this was "𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒑𝒆" which means “𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴” and this is the kind of love that Jesus wants us to have when relating to those whom we perceive to be our enemies.

         By having this kind of "𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒑𝒆" love, it means that regardless of what a person does to us, no matter how we are treated by that person, insulted, injured or grieved, Jesus is telling us never to allow any bitterness against that person to inhabit our hearts. Instead, we are to extend to our enemies that unconquerable benevolence and invincible goodness that will seek nothing but the highest good.

         What makes "𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒑𝒆" love different is that it is not a feeling but a determination of the mind that moves us to love those whom we do not like and who also may not like us. What makes it easy to do is the Grace that comes from Jesus Christ that will enable us to conquer our natural tendency to hate and resent our enemies and replace it with "𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒑𝒆" love.

         This is what makes Christians different from others and what makes Christianity distinct from any other religion. It is this Grace of Christ that leads us to treat others, not as they deserve, but as God wants them to be treated – with loving-kindness and mercy.

         We must always remember that God is good to the unjust as well as to the just. His love encompasses both the saint and sinner alike. God only seeks our highest good and he teaches us to seek the greatest good of others, even those who hate and abuse us.

         By commanding us not to retaliate, Jesus wants us not to take the law into our own hands and loving and praying for our enemies is the best antidote to overcome evil with good. The Pharisees used 𝑳𝒆𝒗 19:18 in teaching the Jews to love those who love in return and 𝑷𝒔𝒂 139:19-22 as a basis to hate their enemies.

         But Jesus in today’s Gospel is saying we are to love our enemies and by doing so we are proclaiming to the heavens that Jesus is the Lord of our life. Loving our enemies is possible only for those who give themselves fully to God because only God can deliver us from our natural tendency to be selfish and vengeful.

         We must trust the Holy Spirit to fill us and show us how to love even those whom we may find difficult to love. I still vividly remember what the late Fr. Pascual Adorable said in one of his homilies still ring clear in my ears: “𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞.” Me and maybe others who were spiritual infants in those days could not make out what he meant for how can you love someone who has wronged you and has caused you many a sleepless night.

         And like the Apostles before us who were confused at the paradigm shifts that Jesus laid down before them, me and the rest were also as confused at this new teaching that we’ve never heard before.

         But as I was growing up in the community, I clearly saw that Fr. Adorable merely echoed the words of Jesus Christ who stood by the words he spoke which meant that what Jesus said in his preaching was what he did. In other words, there was unanimity in the words and actions of Jesus and this is also expected of Christian disciples.

         Jesus also tells us in today’s Gospel to “𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕!” (𝒗.48). And the question we probably would ask ourselves is how this is possible. There are four ways in which perfection can be seen in our lives.

          First is in our character. We cannot be flawless, but we can always try to be Christ-like in all our ways. We can also strive to be perfect in holiness by separating ourselves from the world’s sinful values and obeying the Will of God for us to proclaim and share his love with the world around us.

         We can work to become perfect in maturity by growing in Grace as we allow the trials and challenges we face in life to become tools that would shape and mold us to become perfect in the eyes of God. And we can be perfect in the way we love by loving others in the same way that God loves us. Men will always tend to sin but this should not stop us from striving to be like Christ.

         Jesus is calling on all of us to rise above our mediocrity, for us to excel and mature in every area of our lives because as man was created “𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅” (𝑮𝒆𝒏 1:26) we must realize that our goal in life is to become godlike and the way we can be like God is when we can love even the unlovable.

         When we learn to forgive as God forgives and, to love as God loves that is the time when we shall have reached the perfection that God wants us to have (1 𝑱𝒏 3:2-3). To end please pray with me: “𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴, 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳, 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘣 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘣 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘴. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺, 𝘈𝘔𝘌𝘕!” (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘦 17, 2025)