Love the Unlovable

The WORD today reminds me that I should be like God and love the unlovable. 

In the gospel, God is reminding us how he wants us to love. It is easy to love those who love us. It is easy to give to our family, our friends, and special people who treat us well. It is easy to do that - even sinners act this way. Even the criminals and corrupt public officials do that. They love their family and those who do good to them. However, God expects more from us. God expects us to love others, especially those unlovable – the annoying person in the office, the person who spreads rumors about you, the corrupt person who steals money that could have gone to good projects for the poor. God wants us to love them, just as he loves them.

Love is not an investment.

You don’t love a person with the hopes of receiving back that love. You don’t help a person hoping that in the future the person will help you too. That’s investment, not love. Loving like God is loving with no strings attached, not expecting anything in return, just loving and helping others out of our love for God, as our way of loving and serving God. 

God loves us. In fact, we know love because God loved us first. And as we are filled with his love, as we experience his love, we should be moved to love others back. We should be moved to pass on God's love to others, to love others as God loves us. 

In the first reading, we are reminded to act now. To love now. It is not an abstract concept. It is not a plan we should have. It is something concrete we should do today. Now. 

What is love for me? Do I treat it as an investment and love only those who will eventually pay me back that love? How do I express my love to others? What does God want me to do? How can I live that love today?

May we be challenged and inspired by how God wants us to love – perfectly.

Father God,

Thank you for today. thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another weekend. Thank you for all the blessings you continue to give me. I don’t deserve all these, Lord, and I thank you for continuing to bless me nonetheless. Lord, I am sorry for the times I treat love and service as a investments. Sorry for loving only those lovable, those easy to love, those who I know will love me back. Sorry for serving others in the hope of one day getting that service back when I need it. Lord, I pray that you help me love like you do. may I love perfectly, without wanting anything back in return. To just love because I love you, and I want to share that love to others. May my heart be like yours. To love out of the fullness of your love in me. Use me to make your love more real and more alive in this world. Amen.

Blessed Weekend!

In Christ,

-g-

Ps

See related reflections:

http://mysimplereflection.blogspot.com/2020/03/love-now.html

http://mysimplereflection.blogspot.com/2016/06/fatherly-love.html

Daily Readings

• MARCH 11, 2022
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Saturday of the First Week of Lent

Lectionary: 229

Reading I

Dt 26:16-19

Moses spoke to the people, saying:
“This day the LORD, your God,
commands you to observe these statutes and decrees.
Be careful, then,
to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
Today you are making this agreement with the LORD:
he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways
and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees,
and to hearken to his voice.
And today the LORD is making this agreement with you:
you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you;
and provided you keep all his commandments,
he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory
above all other nations he has made,
and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God,
as he promised.”

Responsorial Psalm

119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8

R.        (1b)  Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
            who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
            who seek him with all their heart.
R.        Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
You have commanded that your precepts
            be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
            of keeping your statutes!
R.        Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
I will give you thanks with an upright heart,
            when I have learned your just ordinances.
I will keep your statutes;
            do not utterly forsake me.
R.        Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!

Verse Before the Gospel

2 Cor 6:2b

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.

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 and sisters only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”