Clip Art for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time C

FIRST READING i Samuel 26:2, vii-ix, 12-13, 22-23

In those days, Saul went down to the desert of Ziph with three 1000 picked men of Israel, to search for David in the desert of Ziph.  So David and Abishai went among Saul'due south soldiers by night and constitute Saul lying comatose within the barricade, with his spear thrust into the ground at his head and Abner and his men sleeping around him.  Abishai whispered to David: "God has delivered your enemy into your grasp this day.  Let me nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I will not demand a 2d thrust!"  Only David said to Abishai, "Do not damage him, for who can lay hands on the Lord's anointed and remain unpunished?"  So David took the spear and the water jug from their place at Saul's head, and they got away without anyone'southward seeing or knowing or enkindling.  All remained asleep, because the Lord had put them into a deep slumber.  Going across to an opposite slope, David stood on a remote hilltop at a great distance from Abner, son of Ner, and the troops.  He said: "Here is the king'due south spear.  Let an attendant come over to get information technology.  The Lord will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness.  Today, though the Lord delivered you into my grasp, I would non harm the Lord'due south anointed."

SECOND READING ane Corinthians 15:45-49

Brothers and sisters:  It is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being, the terminal Adam a life-giving spirit.  But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural and so the spiritual.  The first man was from the earth, earthly; the 2nd human, from heaven.  As was the earthly i, and so also are the earthly, and as is the heavenly i, then as well are the heavenly.  Just every bit we take borne the paradigm of the earthly one, we shall besides bear the paradigm of the heavenly 1.

GOSPEL Luke vi:27-38

Jesus said to his disciples: "To you who hear I say, love your enemies, exercise expert to those who hate you, bless those who curse yous, pray for those who mistreat yous.  To the person who strikes yous on one cheek, offering the other one also, and from the person who takes your cloak, do non withhold even your tunic.  Requite to anybody who asks of you, and from the i who takes what is yours do non need it dorsum.  Do to others every bit you would take them do to you.  For if you dear those who honey yous, what credit is that to you?  Even sinners love those who love them.  And if you lot do adept to those who practise good to you, what credit is that to you lot?  Fifty-fifty sinners do the same.  If y'all lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to yous?  Fifty-fifty sinners lend to sinners, and become dorsum the aforementioned amount.  Merely rather, dearest your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your advantage will be great and you will exist children of the Almost High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.  Exist merciful, just every bit your Father is merciful.  "Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.  Forgive and you will be forgiven.  Give, and gifts volition be given to you; a expert measure, packed together, shaken downward, and flood, will be poured into your lap.  For the measure with which you lot measure will in render be measured out to you."

My sisters and brothers in Christ,

Nelson Mandela was convicted of sabotage during apartheid in South Africa and served 27 years in prison on Robben Island. When he was released in 1990, he didn't seek revenge against his one-time jailers; rather, he invited one of them, a white man named Christo Make, to his 1994 presidential inauguration.  This compassionate act symbolized the blazon of healing necessary for a post-apartheid nation.  The world was agog at his generosity towards those who humiliated him individually or institutionally.  Who acts this way?  And, why not seek revenge?  Retribution, fifty-fifty!

Truly we are called to love anybody.  The only way to prove that we love everyone is in showing that nosotros dear our enemies.  It is not piece of cake to honey someone who has harmed the states or who has harmed someone we honey very much.  Yet, our Lord asks u.s.a. to alive this pardon each and every twenty-four hour period of our life.  Others may think that we are crazy, but nosotros must learn to live forgiveness.

The Get-go Book of Samuel presents us with a paragon of pardon:  David.  No matter how Saul tried to destroy him, David would not retaliate.  David had the opportunity to kill Saul and did not harvest information technology for vengeance because Saul was the all-powerful of the Lord.  Unsurprisingly, the anointed of the Lord can be a sinner and do bad things.  Recalling one of the Ten Commandments, "thou shall not kill," every person is truly the anointed of the Lord and nosotros must refrain from killing.  Woefully, is this not what the world tried to do to Jesus, the New Adam?

Outset Corinthians distinguishes between the ii Adams.  The get-go Adam originates from the material, natural globe; and the second belongs to the spiritual, eternal earth.  The former would exist hard pressed to forgive at times.  Following the tragic Amish schoolhouse shooting of 10 immature schoolgirls in a one-room Amish school in Oct 2006, observers and followers of the tragedy were anger and grief-filled. In the midst of their grief over this shocking loss, the Amish community didn't bandage arraign, they didn't indicate fingers, they didn't hold a press briefing with attorneys at their sides. Instead, they reached out with grace and compassion toward the killer's family.  This act of forgiveness is a fruit of our relationship with the latter Adam, Jesus Christ.  God asks us to forgive.  Christ must become our internal guide for how we live and what we choose to do.

The Gospel of Luke exhorts us:  To yous who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate y'all, anoint those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat yous.  To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other ane as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do non withhold fifty-fifty your tunic.  Mozart'southward "Contessa Perdono" Finale from Le Nozze di Figaro captures beautifully the sentiment of forgiveness.  The Count, aback and remorseful, kneels and pleads for forgiveness to his wife The Countess for misdeeds ("Contessa perdono!" — "Countess, forgive me!"). The Countess, more kind than he ("Più docile io sono"– "I am more mild"), forgives her husband and all are reconciled. The opera ends in universal celebration.  This scenario does not always reverberate real life, but it is nonetheless an ideal to alive up to!

How many of us take the backbone to alive this fashion?  Peradventure occasionally we summon the forcefulness to alive this way.  The invitation is to alive this way consistently and always, no matter what the consequences.

Following Jesus may color the states as fanatics to some people and has the potential of disrupting our comfy ways of living.  We demand to know how to temper our zealousness without compromising our heart'southward want:  Jesus Christ.  If nosotros truly alive from and for the love of Christ, we will know how to give all the compassion and forgiveness we take, prepared fifty-fifty to give our lives for Him who loved us with compassion and forgiveness first.

Abbot Chrisrtian Leisy, OSB

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Source: https://catholicismpure.wordpress.com/2019/02/24/reflection-for-the-7th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-cycle-c/