Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Luke 6: 27-38
September 11, 2025 | Thursday

Today’s Gospel

But 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 grace is yours? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do favors to those who are good to you, what kind of grace is yours? Even sinners do the same. If you lend only when you expect to receive, what kind of grace 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 toward 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.”

Today’s Reflection

To love someone we like genuinely and fully is already a herculean task in itself, adding to the difficulty set by Jesus’ command to love our enemies. How could he command such an onerous task? But he commands it clearly: love your enemies. Straightforward and without hesitation! St. Thomas Aquinas defines love as willing the good of the other for the sake of the other. It has nothing to do with emotions or feelings. Still, it is all about doing something good for others for their benefit. With that comes the understanding that love is primarily an act of the will, not simply an emotion that excites the self. Moreover, the commandment to love that extends to our enemies is made clearer by the subsequent exhortation: do to others what we want them to do to us. If, in our attempt to understand this, we remain on the level of our individual selves, then we are bound to fail. The challenge now is to transcend our own self and look at it from God’s perspective. So we ask, what has God done for us? The most direct and concrete answer: incarnation and crucifixion. In a way, he tells us that to love other people means to be there for them, to be incarnated with them, and ultimately to give our lives for them. This is selflessness at its best. Better yet, this is love at its realest. And this is our calling: Love all.

/Vulnerasti, 2025