Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost; Octoechos Tone 2; The Holy Prophet Joel; The Holy Martyr Varus; Our Venerable Father John of Rila.
2 Corinthians 11:31-12:9; Luke 6:31-36.
Read Luke 6:31-36
We are told by our Lord to love our enemies – people who do not love us, who do not do good to us, who will receive from us but not return what has been given. We are called to go beyond natural human goodness to “be sons of the Most High” and be “merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”
But everything the Bible says to us about how to treat others, it also says to others about how to treat us. When we pray for grace to love those who have done wrong to us our hope is that, just as God’s mercy has affected us, they in turn would experience that effect through us and respond accordingly. But sometimes the roles are reversed. We can be the one who someone needs to pray about loving even though we have not been so to them. In those times, we may find it even more difficult to receive love than to give it.
It takes humility to receive the grace extended by God to us through someone we have wronged. “As you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.” “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133:1)