18-06-24 Kasih yang Sempurna: Mengasihi Musuh dan Menjadi Seperti Bapa di Surga

Tuesday 11th week in ordinary time "Mt 5:43-48" "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?...You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Loving our enemies is a sign of taking after our 'Father who is in heaven'. To be like our heavenly Father implies also that we 'must be perfect'. When Jesus says "be perfect", He's not asking us to be obsessive perfectionists, but rather to strive for perfection; not to settle for mediocrity but to want to improve always. He didn't say 'don't fight back against your enemies', He said, "love your enemies and pray for them". That's perfection. Because 'loving those who love us' is very easy! Of all of Jesus' teachings, loving our enemies is one of the most difficult to live. In 2002, 24-year-old Eric Smallridge was drink-driving. He hit and killed two young girls: Meagan Napier and Lisa Dickson. He was sentenced to prison for 22 years. Distraught, he had even thought about ending his life when, at the end of the trial, Renee Napier, Meagan's mum and a good Christian, approached him, forgave him and hugged him. Eric broke into tears. Eventually all the members of the two families forgave him. He changed his ways and came close to God. Later both the Napier and Dickson families approached the legal system to ask for Eric's sentence to be reduced and it was granted. Since then, Eric has spent his life fighting against drink-driving. Because he was forgiven, he in turn was able to change many lives. That's the power of forgiveness. One day Jesus said to St Faustina: "Have great love for those who cause you suffering. Do good to those who hate you. Be always merciful as I am merciful. Love everyone out of love for Me, even your greatest enemies". Our Lady, Refuge of Christians, intercede for persecuted Christians and for those who persecute them, the enemies of humanity, those who enslave others, who loot, who murder, who sell their fellow human beings, terrorist organisations, and regimes that imprison Christians or forbid religion...