A New Presentation for Sunday's Liturgy

Love
(February 22, 2004 - 7th Sunday in Orinary Time)

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This presentation is originally prepared in Spanish by Fr. Cristo Rey García Paredes, cmf. The original version,along with other very useful materials for pastoral agents and Christians in general can be found at: http://ciudadredonda.org

February 22, 2004 - 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Love Even Your Enemies

Readings:
1 S 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13; 1 Cor 15:45-49; Lk 6:27-38

Commentaries / Gospel Reflections from:
Sunday's Into Silence • Diario Biblico • Daily Gospel

Greeting (See 2 Cor 5:18)

It was God who reconciled us
to himself in Christ
and gave us the work
of handing on this reconciliation.
May the forgiving Lord be with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction by the Celebrant

If we are capable of doing it by the grace of God, there is perhaps nothing that brings us closer to God and makes us most like him than the readiness to forgive and the aptitude to love even enemies. These are so contrary to our feelings of not wanting to be anyone's fool or doormat. And yet, the gospel insists: You who were God's enemies, you who have been forgiven, forgive, be reconciled, be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful.

Penitential Act

God is patient with us.
We can always go to him and be forgiven.
Now we ask him and one another to forgive us.
               (PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, you reassure us
that the Father has forgotten our sins.
We cannot forget that others have hurt us:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, through you
the Father turned us, people who acted as his enemies,
into friends he loves
For us it is hard to be reconciled:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you came not to condemn
but to save what was lost.
We easily judge and condemn:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
and keep forgiving us all our sins.
Make us grateful and merciful,
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray to the Father in heaven
to give us a bit of his goodness
and loving mercy
            (PAUSE)
Lord God, merciful Father,
you let your Son ask of us
by his word and example
not to render evil for evil
and to become available to anyone
who makes demands on us.
Make us fully aware that this is
what you and Jesus have done for us.
Let your Holy Spirit inspire us
with a strong trust in your merciful love
and help us to become a bit like you,
who are always better to us
than we can be to others.
Grant us this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Scripture Readings

First Reading Introduction: A Man with a Great Heart
David is a fugitive from Saul's revenge. When he has Saul in his power, he spares his life, for the king's life is sacred. God's mercy becomes visible in David.

First Reading: 1 Sam 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23

Saul went down with three thousand picked men of Israel to the desert of Ziph in search of David.

So, that night, David and Abishai went into the camp and found Saul sleeping in the center, his spear thrust into the ground at his head, while Abner and the rest of the soldiers were sleeping around him. Abishai said to David, "God has delivered your enemy into your hands this day. Let me nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I will not repeat it." But David answered Abishai, "Do not harm him. For who could harm Yahweh's anointed and not be punished?

So David took the spear and the water jug from near Saul's head and they left. Nobody saw, nobody knew, nobody woke up. All remained asleep, for a deep sleep from Yahweh had fallen on them.

On the opposite slope David stood at a distance, on top of the hill.
David answered, "I have your spear with me, O king! Let one of your servants come over to fetch it. Yahweh rewards a righteous and loyal man. Today he delivered you into my hands but I refused to harm Yahweh's anointed."

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13

R. (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

Second Reading Introduction: We Have to Become Like Christ
      We tend to follow merely our natural human inclinations. Christ is our model; he shows us in himself the kind of spiritual persons we are called to become and he gives us the strength to do so.

Second Reading: 1 Cor 15:45-49

Scripture says that Adam, the first man became a living being, was given natural life; but the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit.

The spirit does not appear first, but the natural life, and afterwards comes the spirit. The first man comes from the earth and is earthly, while the second one comes from heaven. As it was with the earthly one, so is it with the earthly people. As it is with Christ, so with the heavenly. This is why, after bearing the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.

Gospel Introduction: Be Compassionate as Your Father Is Compassionate
       Jesus and his gospel are a constant challenge to go beyond a merely human code in dealing with other people. He calls us to follow him on his radical way, with the merciful love of God for us as our model.

Gospel Reading: Lk 6:27-38

Jesus said to his disciples, "I say to you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you and pray for those who treat you badly. To the one who strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek; from the one who takes your coat, do not keep back your shirt. Give to the one who asks and if anyone has taken something from you, do not demand it back.

Do to others as you would have others do to you. If you love only those who love you, what kind of graciousness is yours? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do favors to those who are good to you, what kind of graciousness is yours? Even sinners do the same. If you lend only when you expect to receive, what kind of graciousness is yours? For sinners also lend to sinners, expecting to receive something in return.

But love your enemies and do good to them, and lend when there is nothing to expect in return. Then will your reward be great and you will be sons and daughters of the Most High. For he is kind towards the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Don't be a judge of others and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you, and you will receive in your sack good measure, pressed down, full and running over. For the measure you give will be the measure you receive back."

Commentary

JESUS tells us to give without expecting a reward. But then he goes on immediately to tell about the reward in store for us if we do!

St. Bernard of Clairvaux in the 12th century put this in a cryptic phrase, "God is not loved without reward, but God should be loved without thought of reward." If we were to love God only for the sake of some reward, we would love the reward, and God only as a means of acquiring it. But God is not a means to anything; God is, as we say, the end, the goal.

What is the reward that Jesus promises? "You will be sons and daughters of the Most High." You will be like your Father in heaven. What is the Father like? "He is kind towards the ungrateful and the wicked." Or as Matthew's gospel puts it, "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust" (5:45). The reward is something we will be, not something we will have. In other words, your reward for being generous is that you will be made capable of being endlessly generous! Anything less would be bribery.

Read also Sundays Into Silence: The Freedom of Forgivenes

General Intercessions

Our Father in heaven has been very good to us. Let us pray that his merciful love may mark our relationships toward everyone and let us say: R/ Lord, let us share in your mercy.

- For all Christians, that our readiness to forgive and our constant quest for tolerance and peace may point to Christ and his gospel, let us pray: R/ Lord, let us share in your mercy.

- For all those who can hardly believe in forgiveness, for those who give others no new opportunities, for those who keep holding grudges, for those blinded and hardened by hatred, that God may bring them mercy, let us pray: R/ Lord, let us share in your mercy.

- For all the nations of the world, that their goal may not be political or economic domination but universal solidarity and friendship, with respect for each other's rights and interests, let us pray: R/ Lord, let us share in your mercy.

- For persecutors and enemies of those who believe, that the merciful God may forgive them and open their eyes to the creative love of God's plans for every human being, let us pray: R/ Lord, let us share in your mercy.

- For our Christian communities, that we may hear the call of Jesus to do away with our division and selfishness, and that we may overcome evil by goodness, let us pray: R/ Lord, let us share in your mercy.

Merciful Father, you still love those who have been thankless and disloyal to you-and that includes us. Help us to give ourselves as you do, that you may be our Father now and for ever. R/ Amen.

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord God, merciful Father,
you set for us the table of your Son
as a sign of your love open to all
in a world without pity.
As we have accepted your invitation,
may we also accept all its consequences,
that your compassionate love
may become flesh and blood in us,
weak and fallible people,
and benefit friend and foe alike
by the strength of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

We join Jesus in his sacrifice by which he brought us God's forgiving mercy. May this sacrifice fill us with God's pardon and dispose us to forgive others.

Invitation to the Lord's Prayer

Let us pray to our Father in heaven
that we may forgive as we have been forgiven
and give as we have received from him.
Let us say with Jesus: R/ Our Father...

Invitation to the Rite of Peace

In answer to the call of Jesus,
let us forget our differences and our selfishness
and wish each other peace, joy and friendship.
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
R/ And also with you.

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus our Lord,
who is the model
of all that we are called to be
and who leads us to our merciful Father.
Happy are we to be invited to his supper.
R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

Prayer after Communion

Lord God, loving Father,
you have given us here in your Son
the full measure of your love.
Let your Son be our strength
helping us to learn to give and to forgive one another
with your own extravagant measure,
that we may be your sons and daughters
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Blessing

In this eucharistic celebration
Jesus has spoken to us a demanding message.
Let us not take his words
as oratorical exaggerations
but as a challenge demanding an answer.
If we call on a merciful God,
we are obliged to be merciful.
And if we are afraid this is above our forces,
be assured that we can do it
with the strength and blessing of almighty God,
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Let us go with one another
the Lord's road of peace. R/ Thanks be to God.

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Additional Resource Material for this Sunday

Ideal for catechetical and liturgical dramatization of today"s gospel.

An Eye for an Eye, A Tooth for a Tooth
(Lk 6:27-38)

(taken from the book A Certain Jesus, Vol. 1)
Click here for other Readings --> Index of A Certain Jesus