Tuesday 18 June 2024

Today is Tuesday 18 June, in the 11th week of Ordinary Time. Davy, with the Porter’s Gate sings a setting of Psalm 5. As you listen, are you able to lay the pieces of your life on God's altar? Listen, God, please, pay attention. Can you make sense of all my groans and cries? Listen, God, I need your help. Every morning you’ll hear me at it again. Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar. Listen, God, please, pay attention. Can you make sense of all my groans and cries? Listen, God, I need your help. Every morning you’ll hear me at it again. Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend. Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 5:43-48 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. It’s not always easy to keep on good terms with friends, let alone love our enemies. How often do you find yourself naturally wanting to pray for your enemies? Have you ever found yourself able to look with love at someone you considered to be your enemy? Have you ever come close? There is a saying, “they are their own worst enemy”. Sometimes our main enemy can be our own sense of self. What about loving the “enemy” we can sometimes find within ourselves? The passage ends with a challenge to be perfect like God! How can we be? Another possible translation is “complete” - to be complete like God in the way that we reach out to everyone - not so much to be perfect in our relationships but to be complete in our range of relationships. Does this understanding of Jesus’s words speak to you? Does it console you? Does it challenge you? Let’s now listen to the reading again and see if that challenge of completeness says something to you now. As this prayer time comes to a close, what could you ask of God that will help you to become more complete in this way? Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.