Loving our enemies

7th Sunday Ordinary Time, year C | Lk 6:27-38

If you can, try to think of someone who is your enemy. This could be someone who has done something to hurt you in the past. Maybe this is a family member or coworker that you simply cannot stand. It might be someone who you harbour strong negative feelings towards. Although we may not like to admit it, I think that we all have enemies in our life. Now, when you consider your enemy or enemies, what do you think and feel when you hear Jesus telling you in the Gospel today to “love your enemy”? No problem, right?!

The idea of loving our enemies can seem like an extremely difficult or even impossible task. Perhaps part of the reason why this is the case is that we misunderstand what Jesus means by “love”. When you consider movies, books and songs, how is the idea of love often portrayed? Often, when we think of the word “love”, we might think of some kind of emotion. Someone we love is an individual who we have strong positive feelings towards. People we love are those who we enjoy spending time with. If love is some kind of emotion, then loving our enemies is probably an impossible task. We all have been hurt, some of us greatly, by some individuals. How can Jesus possibly be asking us to have strong positive emotions towards someone who has hurt us or who is hurting us? How could Jesus possibly expect that we would enjoy to be around such people?

When Jesus is asking us to love our enemies, he is calling us to something much deeper than an emotional response. In Greek language and culture, there were several words used to describe “love”: eros, philia and agape. Eros was the word used to describe romantic love. Philia was the word used for love between friends. Agape was the term that describes unconditional, self sacrificial love. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies in the Gospel, the Greek word used is agape. Jesus, therefore, is not calling us to have love for our enemies in the emotional sense of the term. St. Thomas Aquinas well described the love that Jesus calls us to. He said that love is “willing the good of another”. Love, therefore, is not primarily about feeling a particular way about someone, but is about taking positive action on behalf of someone. In the Gospel, Jesus describes the positive actions that express our love for an enemy. We can do good for our enemy. We can bless our enemy, hoping that they find some good in their life. We can pray for our enemy, asking God to help them to experience what is good. When Jesus asks us to love our enemy, he is not telling us to have a positive emotional feeling towards those who harm us. Jesus is asking us to will the good of our enemy, praying that they find good and perhaps even performing some action that brings some goodness into their life.

The kind of love Jesus calls us to have towards our enemies, a love in action, is in some ways easier and in some ways harder than when we consider the prospect of having love in the emotional sense of the term towards our enemy. It is easier because emotional responses are often outside our control. It is not possible to force ourselves to have good and positive feelings towards those that harm us. Although we cannot force ourselves to feel a certain we, we can take actions that will bring good into the life of our enemies. This of course, is in some ways more difficult than simply having a good feeling towards someone. In the lives of the saints, we see some incredible examples of people who have loved their enemies by performing actions to bring goodness into their lives. We can think, for example of the St. Patrick who lived in the 5th century. When he was 6, St. Patrick was kidnapped by Irish pirates and brought from his home in Britain to Ireland. There he served as a slave for several years before he was able to escape and return home. Those who kidnapped Patrick and forced him to live as a slave could certainly be considered his enemies. Some years later, however, after Patrick was ordained a priest, he decided to return to Ireland and serve the people there as a missionary. He chose to bring the ultimate goodness - Jesus - into the lives of his enemies. This saint shows us in an extreme way the way Jesus calls us to love our enemies by taking some action that brings good into the life of our enemies.

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Try again to call to mind one of your enemies, someone who has harmed you. How might Jesus be calling you to love this individual? Remember that Jesus is not asking us to feel warm feelings towards this person. What action can you take to bring goodness into the life of your enemy? When other ways of bringing goodness into the life of our enemies seem too difficult, a great place to start is by saying a prayer for them.

Should the Church focus only on "spiritual matters"?

6th Sunday of OT, year C | Lk 6:20-26

Some individuals, whether they are Catholic or not, resent it when the Church gets involved in social, economic and political issues, trying to bring about changes. The Church, they argue, should focus on “spiritual matters”. Implicit in this way of thinking is the idea that social, economic and political issues are not spiritual matters. Is this the case?

The Gospel - literally, the “Good News” - that the Church is called to proclaim was always meant to be a call for social, economic and political change. This is particularly evident in the Gospel of Luke. There, we find a message calling for an inversion of the current order. This is succinctly conveyed in Mary’s Magnificat. With the coming of Jesus, those on the bottom of society - the poor and outcasts - are to be raised up, while those on the top of society - the rich and powerful - are to be brought down. This inversion is to be connected to people's’ concrete lives. At the time of Jesus, there was great social inequality. A great deal of wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few. Those who were poor were approximately 90% of the population. Although these poor people normally fared better than the desperately poor today, their existence was difficult and precarious. The poor in rural areas were generally subsistence farmers struggling to survive on inadequate land. The poor in urban areas could be even worse off. Jesus, being a tradesman, was certainly not one of the rich and powerful. He was not, however, among the poorest in society. One scholar, J. P. Meier, explains that if he were living today in the North America, Jesus would be a “blue collar worker in the lower-middle-class”. Jesus’ message was meant to address the inequality in his society. It was meant to be good news for the poor and oppressed, and divine judgement against the wealthy and prosperous who failed to help the needy.

Cosimo Rosselli [Public domain]

In the beatitudes that we heard in the Gospel today from Luke, the message of social, economic and political inversion comes across very clearly. It is interesting to note how Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts of the beatitudes differ. Although the Gospels are rooted in historical happenings, we know that they should not be understood as a blow-by-blow account of everything Jesus said and did. The evangelists were not following Jesus around with quill and parchment recording everything like some modern reporter. Rather, each evangelist shaped the traditions that he received in order to convey a brilliant theological message. The beatitudes are a great example of this. In the Gospel of Matthew, we find an emphasis on the spiritual and religious aspect of the beatitudes. For example, the poor are described as being “poor in spirit”. This modifier, “in spirit”, is not found in Luke. Luke directs his beatitudes at the materially poor, hungry and oppressed. It is these people who Jesus declares to be blessed. They are raised up while the rich, satisfied and socially acceptable are brought down. Jesus directs a series of woes against members of this group who do not use their privileged position to come to the aid of the needy. These woes are absent from Matthew’s version of the beatitudes, which is further evidence that Luke seeks to highlight a message of social and economic inversion in his telling of the beatitudes.

Following the Gospel, the Church today strives to raise up the poor and oppressed while calling on the wealthy and prosperous to recognize their duty to put their resources at the service of the needy. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the mission and resources of the Church should be particularly directed toward those in the most need (CCC 2448). The Church has a “preferential option for the poor”. Pope Francis has been highlighting this in a wonderful way by calling for the Church to care for those on the peripheries. He has modelled how to do this. As Pope, he regularly visits prisons, homeless shelters and places where refugees are kept as they await entry into Europe (e.g. Lampedusa). Further, he has called on politicians and other leaders to enact laws and programs that better care for the poor and marginalized. Pope Francis is reminding us that although Jesus beautiful beatitudes are meant to console, they are also supposed to be unsettling as they compel us to take action on behalf of the poor and oppressed.

At the heart of Luke’s Gospel is a call for an inversion in the social status quo. This comes across clearly in the beatitudes with its “blessings” and “woes”. Those who are on the bottom are to be raised up and those on the top are to be brought down.  To those who say that the Church should focus only on “spiritual matters”, we have to respond that issues of political, economic and social injustice are in fact spiritual matters.

Who is a "fisher of people"? What do they do? How?

5th Sunday Ordinary Time, year C | Lk 5:1-11

Since I grew up loving to fish, the Gospel today, in which Jesus invites the fishers Peter, James and John to leave their literal nets behind, follow him and become “fishers of people”, has always appealed to me. The phrase “fishers of people” has always puzzled me. Wha, did Jesus mean by it? What project was he actually inviting Peter, James and John to be a part of? The readings today help us to answer the following questions. Who is a “fisher of people”? What do they do? How do they do it?

First, who is a “fisher of people”? Often we understand that a fisher of people is someone who is sent out beyond the confines of the Church in order to get people to believe what we believe. In other words, a fisher of people is someone who catches converts. Although this is part of the picture, when we understand the connotation that “fishers of people” had in the Old Testament, we can develop a richer view of what Jesus meant by the phrase. In the book of Jeremiah (16:16-18) the imagery of “fishers of people” is used in the context of God’s judgement against his own people, Israel. “Fishers of people” were sent out to haul people in so that God could judge them. Fishers of people are agents of judgement. They call people to make a choice. Will they choose to follow God’s path or not? Will they follow God’s commandment or not. So, who is a fisher of people? This is someone who, by their words and very way of life, reminds people that because judgement is coming soon, all must make a simple yet urgent choice: will they follow God’s way or not?

Second, what do fishers of people specifically do? What is the message they tell people? Paul give a clear answer to this question in the second reading. Fishers of people are to invite people to respond to the simple message that Jesus died for our sins and rose again. This is the great action that God has worked in the world and to which we are all called to respond. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then are lives are supposed to change. We are liberated from the slavery of sin and selfishness to live a life of service and love to those around us. Believing in the resurrection of Jesus is, of course, not an easy thing to do. How can we believe that a man rose from the dead? Certainly there is no video footage of the resurrection to look at and prove this event! When I have doubts in the resurrection I find it helpful to remind myself that the resurrection seems to be the best possible way to explain two pieces of historical data. The first is that after the death of Jesus, his followers were scattered and terrified. We read this embarrassing piece of information in all the Gospels. We find that Peter, the leader of the disciples, was so afraid that He denied Jesus. The second piece of historical data is that days later these once terrified disciples are boldly preaching that they have seen Jesus risen from the dead. The disciples are so certain of this message that they stand by it in the face of persecution and even death. We need to ask ourselves: what can account for this dramatic change in the disciple? What happened that changed the disciples people fearful for their own lives, locked up in a dark room to avoid the authorities into fearless individuals, preaching a message for which they were willing to die for? To my mind, the best explanation for this dramatic shift is the one the disciples themselves gave: Jesus, who was dead has risen. This is the message that we are called to believe. Believing this message should change our lives. This is what fishers of people are called to proclaim.

Third, how are fishers of people supposed to carry out their mission? That Jesus called those who made a living as fishermen to be “fishers of people” is significant because it suggests that there is a certain continuity between their past life and the mission that they are called to. Specifically, it would seem that Jesus expected Peter, James and John to apply all the skills and talents they employed in their previous profession to the new mission they were taking up. At times, a certain narrative can be offered that emphasises that those called by Jesus were “simply” fishermen. In other words, they had no special skills. The message this conveys is that you need no special training or abilities to be a part of Jesus’ mission. Although it is true that all are called to be a part in Jesus mission irrespective of education or skills, Peter, James and John, were not “simple” people in the sense that they were unskilled and lacking in training and accomplishments. When people visit the sea of Galilee today, they are often struck by the tranquility and simplicity of the scene. Now there are few boats and settlements along the coastline. Reading the Gospel of today, people may be tempted to picture Peter, James and John as hobbyists out for a relaxing afternoon of fishing. Archaeological findings around the sea of Galilee, including a network of docks along the seashore, however, have shown that the fishing industry in which Peter, James and John worked, was a sophisticated enterprise. Capernaum, the city in which Peter was situated, was at the boundary of two provinces, which meant that it was a prime location for trade. The men Jesus called, therefore, had a great deal of skill. Essentially, they were small-business owners. The parallel account in Mark makes it clear that they had employees working beneath them (Mk 1:20). Peter, James and John, therefore, would have known how to run a business and were accustomed to leading others and interacting with a wide range of people as they sold their products. When those called by Jesus “left everything behind” to follow him, it does not mean that they left these skills and talents behind. Quite the contrary. Jesus would have expected them to apply all their abilities in the service of their new mission as “fishers of people”.

Today, we are invited to hear anew Jesus’ call to be a “fisher of people”, inviting people to respond to what God has done in the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Perhaps a good starting in doing this is by asking ourselves a couple questions. Do I really believe that Jesus has died for me and risen from the dead? Does this belief make a difference in the way I live? If I do belief this message is it not something that I should be using all my talents and skills to share with those around me?