Daily Catholic Lectio. Tue, 18 June 2024. Boundless love

Daily Catholic Lectio

Tue, 18 June 2024

Eleventh week in Ordinary Time – Tuesday

1 Kings 21:17-29. Matthew 5:43-48

Boundless love

The people of Israel treated love of God and love of neighbour as two rails of their lives. ‘Neighbour’ was understood in a parochial, restricted sense of referring to members of one’s own clan. Jesus, who instructs on higher righteousness, instructs that their love must be boundless and without borders.

Our human love, in general, has three characteristics: (a) It is conditional – conditioned by what others do to us; (b) It is reciprocal – exchanged between two persons equally; and (c) It is local – depending on a particular context.

Jesus, wishing that his disciples must become the children of the Father in heaven, exhorts that they love as the Father loves: unconditional, unidirectional, universal, and wishing others well.

Later, Jesus advises a young man to embrace lack in order to be perfect.

The sun does not lose its light(!) by shedding it, nor does the rain lose itself by pouring out. In the same way, love, when shared, makes one full.

Jesus wants us to love without discrimination, favouritism, or inclusion. Love requires empathy in the first place. That’s why Lukan Jesus wants us to become ‘perfect as the heavenly father.’

In the first reading, the Lord God takes revenge on Jezebel and Ahab for their sin against Naboth. God changes his mind when Ahab repents.

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David sings, ‘Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness’ (cf. Ps 51). When we experience God’s love as his mercy, we shall share it with others! (Jubilee 2025 AD, bite 127).

Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi

Archdiocese of Madurai

Missionary of Mercy