Thursday.blog
The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, September 9, 2004
Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
St. Peter Claver, priest
Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
1 Corinthians 8:1-7,11-13
Psalm 139:1-3,13-14,23-24
Luke 6:27-38
A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:
Bless Those that Curse You. . .
What Jesus says in today's Gospel is acknowledged as one of the "hard words" of the Bible. That is, while we all bow our heads in obedience at the truth and wisdom of the words, most of us have a very hard time directing our attitude properly.
I may say "Bless those that curse you," but do I really act on it? Most of the time I grit my teeth and endure the cursing with a low-grade fever for vengeance burning in my heart. Or I bless them not out of the fullness of my heart but out of obedience, once again hissing through gritted teeth. "Bless you," takes on the meaning of a different way of phrasing a curse.
How do we learn to bless those that curse us? Only by going to the cross and spending time there. We must be crucified with Jesus, we must experience all that He experiences and we must through His strength be able to say, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."
In our own will, by our own power, we can do nothing. It is only through His strength in His triumph that we can bring ourselves to do what is right. We are all broken, we are all pitiful, we are subject to our own whims and foolish choices. We are all in need of blessing even as we curse others. See yourself as God sees you--see yourself from the cross and you will see what Christ loved and what we must love in others, no matter how they treat us.
- JuandelaCruz
(sriddle415 at yahoo dot com)
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