Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Praised be Jesus and Mary.
Two things to learn from today's Gospel.
One, that we are to be perfect, to become saints.
And two, part of that perfection consists in loving our enemies.
First, with regard to being perfect, our Lord says,
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.
The Catechism teaches us that all Christians in any state or walk of life
are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity.
All are called to holiness.
So in virtue of our baptism, by becoming Christians,
we are all called to holiness, called to become saints.
And we need to remember that God does not ask the impossible from us.
So this is possible for each and every one of us.
We have all of the means to become saints at our disposal.
The Catechism goes on.
In order to reach this perfection,
the faithful should use the strength dealt out to them by Christ's gift,
so that, doing the will of the Father in everything,
they may wholeheartedly devote themselves to the glory of God
and to the service of their neighbor.
Thus, the holiness of the people of God
will grow in fruitful abundance,
as is clearly shown in the history of the Church
through the lives of so many saints.
But you see in this paragraph,
it mentioned the essential for holiness,
doing the will of the Father in everything.
So here would be a good point of examination of conscience
before we go to sleep at night.
Was there anything today that I,
I did, or thought, or omitted,
that I knew to be the will of the Father,
and yet I did not do, I did not accomplish?
Did I knowingly and willingly
not do the will of the Father in everything today, this day?
If we can live our lives on a day-to-day basis
with this intention, we should cultivate this intention
to know and do.
will of the Father in everything, we will be well on our way to becoming the saints we're supposed
to be. Then our Lord says that we must love our enemies, right? So this is a part of becoming
saints, of doing the will of the Father in everything. It is the will of the Father that we
love, yes, even our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us. The Catechism says that deliberate
hatred is contrary to charity. Now remember, our sanctity consists in the perfection of charity.
So deliberate hatred is contrary to charity. You will never be a saint if you deliberately hate
people. Hatred of the neighbor
is a sin.
It is a sin when one deliberately wishes him evil. So don't wish evil, don't will evil towards your
neighbor. That is hatred. But instead, willing the good is love of neighbor. Will the good, will the
highest good, namely God, his salvation and sanctification. This is the highest good. This is
the greatest good. This is the greatest good. This is the greatest good. This is the greatest good.
This is the greatest love that we can have for our neighbor. This is the love that Christ has for
neighbor. So this is the same love that we ought to have for neighbor, willing their salvation and
sanctification. Hatred of the neighbor is a grave sin when one deliberately desires him grave harm.
Makes sense, right? So for those people who say, oh, I wish he was dead,
or I wish he would go to hell, or something like that. That's grave harm. That's grave matter.
That's a mortal sin. So he might not go to hell, but you will if you die with that mortal sin on
your soul. And you see how, again, the exact opposite. I wish he would have eternal life.
I will for him to go to heaven. There's our love of neighbor or love of enemy. If this person happens
to be your enemy. Liberation in the spirit of the gospel, the freedom of the children of God
is incompatible with hatred of one's enemy as a person, but not with hatred of the evil
that he does as an enemy.
All right. So you can, of course, hate the sin, hate the evil that your enemy does. But as a person,
you need to will him good. So hate the evil. Will that that come to an end and be eliminated.
Will the good that God bless this person, bring them to conversion, grace, sanctification,
salvation. And by doing this,
this makes us like God. You see how our sanctification makes us more like God. God is love.
And so the saints having an increase of love in charity in the soul, they become more like God who is love.
The gospel thus brings the law to its fullness through imitation of the perfection of the Heavenly Father.
Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. God is infinite and perfect love, charity.
So that's what we're called to perfect charity. And this is done through forgiveness of enemies
and prayer for persecutors in emulation of the divine generosity catechism.
Christian prayer extends to the forgiveness of enemies,
transfiguring the disciple by configuring him to the master, Jesus Christ, who forgave his enemies.
Christ died out of love for us while we were still enemies.
Forgive them for they know not what they do.
You see the imitation of Christ here. And we see this in the lives of the saints.
Maybe the first is Saint Stephen, martyr.
You see the imitation of Christ here. And we see this in the lives of the saints. Maybe the first is Saint Stephen, martyr.
Pray for Saul, his persecutor.
St. Teresa of Avila was accustomed to redouble her charity toward those who offended her.
St. Teresa of Avila was accustomed to redouble her charity toward those who offended her.
If anybody wanted to receive St. Teresa's prayers, all she needed to do was offend her.
St. Francis Borgia used to call those who brought upon him any mortification or trial,
his assistants and responsibility.
assistance, and friends. A certain good nun, whenever she received an injury from anyone,
always hastened to the most holy sacrament and made an offering of it, saying, O Lord,
for love of thee, I pardon her who has done me this wrong. May thou pardon her for love of me.
Right? So the saints have done it, and we can do it too. In the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Benedictum fructum ventris tui.