Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Our burden and privilege as Christians is to be held to the very highest
standards of conduct in thought, word and deed: the standard of the virtue
of charity. The charity of the Samaritan made him pleasing in God's eyes,
though to Jews he was a heretic and an outcast, judged to be condemned.
The priest, a leader and holy man among the Jewish people fell short in
God's eyes, for he was without charity.
Christ died out of love for us, while we were still "enemies." (Romans
5:10) The Lord asks us to love as he does, even our enemies, to make ourselves
the neighbor of those farthest away, and to love children and the poor
as Christ himself. (Cf. Matthew 5:44; Luke 10: 27-37; Mark 9:37; Matthew
25:40, 45.) (CCC 1825)
We must love all, including our enemies, and must pray for them or we
are without charity and therefore without God's love. Let us begin now
the regular practice of prayer for our enemies that the doors of heaven
may not be shut against us.
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we
"meet Christ in the liturgy"---Father Cusick
See also CCC 1293, 2083, 2603, 2822
Used with the permission of Fr. Cusick from his website.
