wow

"Wow."  That was my friend's whispered repsonse at the end of the homily today.  I had to agree.  Though when we talked about it later, it was hard to define what made it "wow". 

The Gospel itself hooked me.  I think it is one of my favorites, and it is rich.  Luke 6:27-38, in case you missed it.  Can I jog your memory? 

...love your enemies, do good to those who hate you...

...pray for those who mistreat you...

...Do to others as you would have them do to you....

...Even sinners love those who love them....

...expect nothing back...

...Be merciful...

...Stop judging...

...Stop condemning...

...Forgive...

...Give

and gifts will be given to you;

a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing will be poured into your lap.

For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.

That's the "Reader's Digest" version, and as I said I was hooked before the Gospel was over.  Be merciful.  Stop judging.  "Lord, I hear you.  Really." 

But the homily.  Maybe it was because he used the "jackass" word.  As in, "That jackass wants to burn the Q'uran on Saturday, and he's gonna do it in the name of the 'Lawd Jesus'."  He said that the biggest scandal in the church today is not the sexual abuse scandal (as horrible as it is), but the scandal of hatred.  We are not called to hate.  Is it easy to love in the face of hate?  No.  He points to the crucifx and says, "That wasn't easy, either!"  But He gives us the Gift of Himself (in the Eucharist) to help us along the way.  And in the next couple of days [as the anniversary of 9-11 approaches], we will be sorely tempted  to hate, he warned, by the 'Idiot from Hell' (Satan).   

Somehow he worked in the first reading, which he says was to say that we must be sensitive about how what we do appears to other people.  Sometimes without even meaning to, we can give people wrong ideas.  Our lives must stand for something.  And somehow he worked in St. Peter Claver (who's feast was today) who served the least of his brothers in newly arrived slaves from Africa.

In any case, let us take this reminder to pray for our enemies during the next few days.  They are real.  They are out there.  And they hate us.  But we are called to more than that.

Maybe that should be enough to elicit a "wow".