8th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Isidore was born to very poor parents in Madrid, about the year 1070. He was in the service of the wealthy Madrid landowner Juan de Vargas on a farm in the vicinity of Madrid. Juan de Vargas would later make him bailiff of his entire estate of Lower Caramanca.
Every morning before going to work, Isidore was accustomed to hearing a Mass at one of the churches in Madrid. One day his fellow-laborers complained to their master that Isidore was always late for work in the morning. Upon investigation, so runs the legend, the master found Isidore at prayer while an angel was doing the plowing for him.
My dear friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus said we cannot serve two masters. It is either we love one and hate the other. He told us that we have to choose whom to serve best –and it is God. In our story, St. Isidore chose God first. It is God who helped him then in his works.
In our modern world we can say it is now possible to serve two masters without hating or loving the other. We are in the world of multi-tasking so to say. We can do many things at the same time. We can browse through our computer to make our thesis while chatting with a friend in the facebook, and at the same time watching some shows on the television and holding our cellular phone to read the text messages. But this is not what Jesus intends us to answer. He wants us to prioritize God above all else. Although we can do the multi-tasking in our day-to-day activities, Jesus wants us to realize that in spiritual life, we have to fix our gaze on God. There shall be undivided attention to give to God and God shall be the master of our life. We can set aside other things or forget about anything but never about God. And in doing so, God will provide us with everything we need.
Jesus admonishes us His followers to put away anxiety and preoccupation with material things and instead to seek first the things of God – his kingdom and righteousness. Anxiety robs the heart of trust in the mercy and goodness of God and in his loving care for us. God knows our needs even before we ask and he gives generously to those who trust in him. Who is your master – God or mammon?

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

A FARMER, who bore a grudge against a Fox for robbing his poultry yard, caught him at last, and being determined to take an ample revenge, tied some rope well soaked in oil to his tail, and set it on fire. The Fox by a strange fatality rushed to the fields of the Farmer who had captured him. It was the time of the wheat harvest; but the Farmer reaped nothing that year and returned home grieving sorely.

My dear friends, revenge, hatred, anger, or grudge is not good for us. It is like a fire that is burning in us and consumes us. But what can we do? If someone hurts us, it is not easy to treat him well. Retribution or getting even seems to be the most common response to wrongdoing. How can one forgive someone who destroys your reputation and keeps doing it? It is our tendency to say, "Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." [Dt. 19:21.]

In today’s Gospel, Jesus commands each disciple to love one’s enemy. And this seems to be difficult for us to follow. But if we are going to understand what Jesus means by saying this, we will realize it is not as hard as it seems to follow.

When Christ said, “Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you,” He was not asking us to have nice feelings towards an enemy. He was saying that we should not seek revenge. If revenge, hatred or grudge dwells in us, then we are dwelling in sin. And if we live in sin, then we lose our soul and it is the devil that wins.
When Christ said, “Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you,” Jesus was not asking us to condone to what is evil? Shall we allow the culprit to escape? Loving an enemy does not mean forgetting everything about the wrongdoings. No. There must be justice and at the same time we ask God that the culprit will be sorry for his wrongdoings and reform. We have to win the soul of our offender over the devil.

Perhaps the example of Pope John Paul II can provide us a picture of this “love of enemies”. Although the Pope had forgiven Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish who had attempted to assassinate him on May 13, 1981, Agca remained in jail for years to atone for his crime.