Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
From Enemy To Neighbor
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II: It is the ungrateful and risky task of the prophet to speak out against injustice, even when committed by the mighty of this earth.
Gospel: Jesus concludes part of his Sermon on the Mount with the words “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” A goal not easy to attain! Our love must go out to everyone; it must include even enemies and must imitate God’s love, who lets his sun shine on good and bad alike
Opening Prayer
Father in heaven, God of love,
In your Son Jesus Christ
You have shown us your tenderness
and accepted us, sinful people,
as your sons and daughters.
Share your heart with us,
make us merciful and understanding people,
that we may learn from the way you have treated us
to accept everyone without conditions,
to forget and forgive all hurts,
so that we can become more like you.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
First Reading
Then the Lord spoke to Elijah of Tishbe:
“Go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, in Samaria. He is taking possession of Naboth’s vineyard.
Say to him: ‘Have you killed and have taken possession at the same time?’ Then give him this word of mine: ‘Dogs shall lick your blood in the very place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth.’”
Ahab then said to Elijah: “Who, better than my enemy, could find me here and now!” Elijah answered: “I have come to you because you have done what the Lord abhors.
This is the Lord’s word: ‘I will bring disgrace on you. I will sweep you away and cut off every male of your family, from the lowest to the greatest.
Your family will disappear like the families of Jeroboam and Baasha because you have offended me and have dragged Israel into sin.’
There is another word of the Lord to Jezebel: ‘The dogs shall devour Jezebel within the territory of Jezreel.’
If anyone of Ahab’s line dies in the city, he shall be devoured by dogs; if in the green country, the birds of the air shall feed on him.”
There was no one like Ahab, urged by his wife Jezebel, to do what the Lord abhorred.
He did horrible things and ran after unclean idols just as the Amorites had done, from whom the Lord had taken the land to give it to Israel.
On hearing these words, Ahab tore his clothes and put on sackcloth. He fasted as he lay in sackcloth and moved around despondently.
Then the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite: “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself?
Because of this, I will not bring about the disaster during his reign; during his son’s reign, disgrace will fall on his family.”
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 11 and 16
R. (see 3a) Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
"Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight."
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my guilt.
Free me from blood guilt, O God, my saving God;
then my tongue shall revel in your justice.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment;
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
You have heard that it was said: Love your neighbor and do not do good to your enemy.
But this I tell you: love your enemies; and pray for those who persecute you,
so that you may be children of your Father in Heaven. For he makes his sun rise on both the wicked and the good, and he gives rain to both the just and the unjust.
If you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Don’t even tax collectors do the same?
And if you are only friendly to your friends, what makes that so exceptional? Don’t even the pagans do that? As for you, be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Prayers of the Faithful
Intercessions
– Lord, let your Spirit give us the courage to pray for those who hate or harm us, and to do good to them, we pray:
– Lord, change the hearts of those who cannot forgive or refuse to do so, and remind them how you have forgiven them, we pray:
– Lord, that those in charge of charitable organisations and works may be honest in administering what has been entrusted to them, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Heavenly Father,
These are the gifts of peace
We bring before you
to celebrate the feast of love of your Son.
Help us to discover with him
the best that is in each of us
and to create one another anew
with the same liberating and forgiving love
that you have shown us
in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Father in heaven,
We have celebrated with your Son
The sacrifice that has brought us peace.
By his words and his life, he has taught us
to forgive one another wholeheartedly.
Let his Spirit dwell in us,
that our pardon may be without regret
and that we may go with one another
much farther than we are asked
on the way to each other and to you,
our holy God, now and forever. Amen!
Blessing
“Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you.” Difficult to do, very difficult. But that’s what Jesus did. Is it impossible for us? May God give you courage and bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
Matthew 5:43-48
The hardest love — loving our enemies
Today, Jesus speaks to us with words that are as difficult as they are liberating: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Mt 5:44) He is not proposing a new system of law, but a new way of being, rooted in the very heart of God — a love that knows no boundaries.
This does not mean approving the evil our enemies do. No! Jesus asks us to look at them with a different gaze — the gaze of the Father, “who makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good” (v. 45). Even our enemy is a child of God, made in His image, even if that image has been wounded or darkened by sin.
Let’s be honest — this is not easy. It is hard to forgive someone who has hurt us. It’s difficult to pray for someone who slanders us, insults us, or wishes us harm. But this is the Christian mystery: that in the face of hatred, we respond with blessing. In the face of betrayal, we respond with forgiveness. In the face of evil, we choose love.
Think of those Christians who prayed for their persecutors in concentration camps, or in the jails in our neighbourhood. Think of Jesus on the Cross, saying, “Father, forgive them.” That is our path too — and it begins with a small step: praying sincerely for one person -who hates me - from the heart.
This is the holiness that makes us “perfect like the Father” (v. 48). Not perfect in strength, but perfect in mercy. Today, think of someone who has hurt you. Pray for them. Bless them. And ask the Lord for the grace to love — even when it seems impossible.
This is the Gospel. This is the Cross. This is freedom.
Amen.