A good Sunday to all.

Last Sunday, Jesus addressed the disciples who had made the option to accept his life proposal by saying: "Happy you." Being 'happy' does not mean 'doing everything I tell them,' but it is a compliment. They have secured their lives. And the last of these beatitudes was: "Happy when people hate you, exclude you, insult you..." The fact that the world does not love them means they are different because if they loved them, they would be the same as everyone else. On the other hand, the life option that Jesus proposed and that you have accepted is very different from the world. When we say 'world,' we understand those who follow natural impulses in life.

In today's Gospel text, we will see that accepting the proposal of Jesus' life is not so simple. It is very different from the one suggested by our instinct. Therefore, if you are not harassed as a Christian, you should ask yourself and check if, perhaps, you have not turned into salt that has lost its flavor and serves only to be thrown out and trampled by people, as Jesus said. If the Christian reasons and speaks like everyone else, if he follows the same principles and values, if he adapts to the way of life of those who do not know the Gospel, they will undoubtedly leave you alone. You will not be persecuted. You do not bother anyone. But if the Christian embodies the Gospel, he questions the established order in his life and is inevitably persecuted.

Jesus says: "Happy you" when you have this painful experience. It is then that one wonders how the disciple should behave when he is persecuted, when he finds himself in front of people who do him wrong or use violence, when he is marginalized when he suffers injustices and may even lose his life. It is not only an experience of the first centuries; it is an experience that the Church is living today, too. What does the Master say? The instinct leads the disciple to react, pay with the same coin, respond to violence with violence, evil with another evil, and revenge.

Listen to what Jesus asks of his disciples who are in this situation. Should they be carried away by the instinct or the new life they have received from the Father in heaven: the Spirit? Let's listen:

“Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.”

These are four unequivocal imperatives, followed by four practical examples from everyday life. Therefore, Jesus wants to be clear with what he asks his disciples when they suffer injustice and persecution. The first imperative: "Love your enemies." The verb used here is not translated by 'friendship' = 'file.' It is another verb. Have you ever wondered how you can befriend those who have done you wrong? You cannot do it... And this is not possible. Jesus does not ask you to be his friend; he asks you to love him. The verb used here is 'agapán'. It is a verb that, in classical Greek literature, is not used even a dozen times. It's very seldom used, but for Christians, it has become the verb that indicates gratuitous love that does not originate in human nature—human nature would take you in the opposite direction—but it originates in the life that has been given to you by the Father of heaven, which is His very life. And his life is 'love'.

'Agapán' means availability to do good and only unconditionally. In the confrontation with the enemy that made me some evil, even a grave evil, and that is doing everything possible to create problems for me, 'doing good' does not come spontaneously. Instincts take us in the opposite direction. Jesus asks for 'love' to be ready to respond to the request for help, even from the enemy. Despite whatever evil he has done to me, I must put myself at his service when the enemy has a need. This is the first imperative: accept or reject it, but this is the proposal of Jesus of Nazareth.

The second imperative: "Do good to those who hate you.” Hatred is not simply antipathy or aversion against those who do not like you. These are feelings that we all have. The danger is that these feelings turn into hatred. The one who hates wants to destroy the other. He who hates me wants something terrible to happen to me and thinks that it would be much happier if I did not exist. If one hates me, the instinct—what is derived from my human nature—where does it lead me? It takes me to do everything possible to destroy him. He wants to kill me, so I anticipate, and I wish that some evil happens to him ... maybe he gets sick... This response to hatred, to someone who wants to do me wrong, with another hatred. This is derived from nature.

It is clear that if one hates me, I will not like it. This does not depend on me. The danger is when this antipathy turns into hatred in me. The Spirit of Christ goes in the opposite direction. Jesus asks that all opportunities be sought to make him happy and do him good. It is your enemy that hates you, that wishes to destroy you, that does not want you to exist in this world, and you should do everything possible to make him happy. Doing good does not mean 'caressing' him to indulge in his whims. This is not loving for those who do us evil. 'Do good' means making firm decisions when confronting that person because you want to make him grow and humanize him. He (or she) is in a condition where if I consent to his whims, it will be worse for him... So, I cannot do this. But I must do everything possible so that this person may grow, be humanized, and be happy.

In any case, the disciples of Christ cannot do anything but love them. Sometimes, we ask ourselves: will it work? I do not know. As a child of God, I cannot do anything but love them. Maybe the person will close more, will hate me even more ... But I let myself be guided by the divine life, by the life of the Father in heaven who is love... even when the other person remains closed, I cannot do anything else. The vine can do nothing but produce grapes; it is its nature. The jasmine cannot do anything but give perfume; it is its nature; even if you step on it, it will continue to give perfume. The nature of the Christian is that of the son of God; he cannot do anything other than to love, even those who do him evil, those who hate him.

The third imperative: "Bless those who curse you." Cursing means wanting the death of the other. Blessing means to wish for life. We bless God when we recognize that all of life comes from Him. And God blesses us by giving us life. When we bless another person, it means: 'I want you to live.' And 'to live' does not just mean 'to survive.' It means that you may have the fullness of life and joy. And when a Christian blesses someone who has cursed him, he means that he wants the other to be happy and willing to do everything possible to make it so. And this is not easy.

And that is why the fourth imperative: "Pray for those who mistreat you." Practicing the first three imperatives is complex, so prayer is needed. Only authentic prayer—not the repetition of formulas—means getting in tune with the thought of God and seeing how God sees the one who hates me and does terrible things to me. And when I discover that God loves him... God is not telling me that the other is good and that everything is good; He tells me that his son is wonderful, even if he is doing bad things. God hates the bad things he does, but he loves him. Only in prayer can I get in tune with the feelings of God.

When we are before the Lord, we cannot lie and ask him to fill us with his blessings who are doing evil to us. And when one prays in this way, the heart is in tune with the heart of the Father of heaven, who makes the sun rise on good and evil and makes the rainfall over the righteous and the unjust. Now, Jesus explains his proposal for a new world with four practical examples.

Let's clarify immediately that Jesus is using paradoxical images: put the other cheek after you have been slapped... do not take it literally... not even Jesus has taken it literally. But let's try to understand what Jesus intends of his disciples, who want them to be moved by his Spirit, of the divine life they have received, not by the impulses from nature. To present this law of unconditional love, these are the examples Jesus gives.

The first refers to physical violence: what should the slave do? He says: offer the other cheek. It means: 'You must not respond with violence.' We experience many kinds of aggression in our lives, even in the most straightforward, banal moment ... we can be driving on the road. We are next to other cars, hoping to follow, and behind is one that blows the horn... and with this, he is saying to me: 'You must not exist.' It is violence that is done to us. How to react? The Christian cannot respond except with love. You must turn the other cheek. You must not react with violence if you cannot change the situation.

Second behavior: the robber who steals the first thing he finds. “From the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic.” It is paradoxical. But, if one day you find who has stolen your cloak—if you see him on the street and he is dying of cold, you must give him a tunic... and you go cold and give it to your brother. You can accept or reject it, but this is the Gospel.

The third example: do not look for excuses: 'Give to everyone who asks of you.' It is a request for help. Sometimes, it is done without discretion and creates unpleasant situations, but you do not have to look for excuses. If you can help the brother, you must help him, even if he is an enemy. Attention is paid to doing good and giving alms. Let's be vigilant. We have a beautiful phrase in the book of the Didache, written in Antioch, even before the Gospel of Matthew. It says: "Keep the alms in your sweaty hands until you know who is best to give it." It is a crucial phrase. 'Think well before giving alms, before doing some good to the other, for you must know how your help will be used.' Therefore, wisdom when you do good.

The fourth example relates to economic justice: "From the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.” Someone who seizes something that is yours. How to react? Jesus is not saying that you should remain passive; resign yourself. NO. The Christian is not naive or foolish. Jesus suggests a positive action to humanize the evil one. And the first thing is not to behave in the same way as the evil one. Therefore, the disciple is asked to do justice and defend what belongs to you, your honor, and your life. The Christian is not an imbecile; he does not tolerate injustice.

Nor does love mean to endure in silence without reacting. The Christian is actively committed to ending prevarications, robberies, and injustice, but he does not use methods condemned by the Gospel. When establishing justice with evangelical means is not possible, when the only way that remains open is to do evil to a brother, you must show yourself a disciple of Christ who prefers to bear the price of injustice rather than do evil to a brother or sister. And now comes what has been called 'the golden rule' that Jesus gave to help us make the right choices when unsure what to do.

Let's listen:

“Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners and get back the same amount.”

 Jesus begins with wise counsel. To know what to do to help those having difficulty and not knowing what option to take. Jesus suggests asking this question: 'If you were in the situation of the other, what would you want the other to do for you?' "Treat others the way you want them to treat you." Then, he introduces the theme of gratuity and Christian love. What characterizes the 'agapán' is the availability to do good for free without expecting anything in return.

Many times, the translation of the text that we have just heard translates the parallel of Matthew, who says: "If you love those who love you, what merit do you have? If you do good to those who do good to you, what merit do you have? If you lend to those who return the loan, what merit do you have?" (Mt 5:46ff). Matthew uses the term 'mistós' = 'merit.' But Luke, with great finesse, uses another term: 'jaris,' which means gratuity. So, the meaning of this term is diverse. If you love those who love you... What are you doing for free? And what characterizes the authentic love of Jesus of Nazareth is love that asks nothing in return. He does it in pure loss. He is happy because he cannot do anything other than love and do good.

This is the 'jaris', the gratuity. Where is the gratuity if you do good to those who do good to you? All do this. It is derived from human nature. Doing good without expecting anything in return is the characteristic of the love of Christ. Doing good without expecting anything in return, for free, also refers to not doing good to accumulate merits in paradise. This is still selfishness. It is not 'jaris'. If I love the poor, then later, in paradise, I accumulate merit, and then I am still an egoist. I have not entered into the 'jaris' that characterizes the love of the disciple.

This gratuitous love transforms the person into an outstanding, true disciple of Christ. Noble because from them comes the light that characterizes the noble person, Jesus of Nazareth. When Jesus says: 'You must be light of the world,' it means: 'You must let out of your lives the light that is my own life.' And now we come to the apex of Christian ethics: love of the enemy: “But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.”

Love for the enemy: This is a privileged situation in which it is possible to show the gratuitousness of love. Only the total love of Jesus of Nazareth can reach this level. Several texts of the Old Testament have already prepared this proposal of Jesus. We remember the book of Exodus: "If you find the ox of your enemy or his donkey strayed, you will certainly return it to him" (Ex 23:4). "When you see the ass of your enemy fallen under his load and you would like to refuse to lift it, you must, however, help him to lift it up" (Ex 23:5) ... if he loses the donkey, he no longer has the resources to live. Help your enemy who is in need.

Therefore, it is already in the Old Testament. Even the pagan sages had similar and well-known expressions. For example, Epictetus said: "Even as the Sun doth not wait for prayers and incantations to rise but shines forth and is welcomed by all: so you also wait not for clapping of hands and shouts and praise to do thy duty; nay, do good of thine own accord, and thou wilt be loved like the Sun.” Seneca: "If you want to imitate the gods, do good to the ungrateful, for the sun also rises over the wicked." These affirmations of the Stoic philosophers would seem identical to those of Jesus and those of the Gospel, but in reality, they are very different because of the 'gratuity.'

The Stoic philosophers proposed these behaviors to achieve inner peace and the imperturbability of facing suffering and injustice. They wanted to show total control of themselves, so deep down, they were looking for themselves; there was no gratuity. As I've mentioned, this may also explain why Christians seek a personal advantage for their good deeds. WRONG! Good is done because it is good.

The disciple should not be fooled by selfish thoughts or looking for some personal gratification. You will experience the joy of love, which is that of the Father of heaven. What is the promised reward? They will receive a great reward ... what is it? "They will be children of the Most High, who are generous, ungrateful, and wicked." It is not the promise of a better place in paradise. NO.

The big reward, the biggest one, is that you will be the 'son of the Most High.' Be like Him, who loves and only loves. And God manifests his very identity as a God who loves especially in the love of the enemy, who does evil. And the son or daughter of God behaves like the Father of heaven because the evil person is also a son of God, and you should come out the expression of this father's life to love the wicked person.

The text concludes with the exhortation for members of the Christian community to make this face of the heavenly Father visible in the eyes of the people:

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. 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.”

This adjective 'merciful' does not reproduce the term 'rajum' meaning that the Bible attributes to God. When God appears in the book of Exodus, chapter 34, he says: 'aní rajum' which is translated: 'I am merciful.' 'Rajum,' which is the first image of God, is feminine. It comes from 'rejem', the mother's womb, the uterus. God presents his love as visceral, as motherly. It does not say ‘the heart of God.’ It tells the uterus. It is feminine because we all have hearts, but only women have the uterus. And God has chosen this image to show his unconditional love for each person.

This does not mean that God says everything goes well. NO. Nobody likes God hates evil, for the first victim of evil is the one who commits it because evil dehumanizes the person; therefore, God hates evil, but he cannot do anything but love all people. Let's take the example of a mother. We have all heard similar expressions: When a mother is told: 'Your son has committed a huge crime ... what happened?' The mother answers: 'NO. My son is good ... it's a crime, but my son is good.' She reacts with the 'rajum.' This is a pale image of God's unconditional love for each son or daughter. God hates evil more than any other because evil is done to his children, but He loves each person. Reacting this way, showing love for all, does not come to us spontaneously. We do not spontaneously love the one who does us wrong.

God hates evil but loves all, especially the one who does evil. It does not come spontaneously to us, but this is the nature of God. The nature of God's love is manifested by being unable to love the worst criminal. Think of the blasphemy that is said when speaking of a God who punishes those who have no excuse to disobey His commandments. It is blasphemy against God's identity, which is his unconditional love. And because God is like that, we, his sons and daughters, must be like him: hate evil, but love and only love even the most significant criminal.

What must be done to make this happen? Two behaviors must be avoided, and two behaviors must be assumed. Avoid: do not judge and do not condemn. What does Jesus mean by 'not judging and not condemning'? Does it mean we must turn a blind eye to everything and deny mistakes as if they were not? NO. We must always distinguish between the judgment we make about an action that has been carried out and the judgment of people.

The one who judges is the word of the Gospel: it tells you if an option is humanizing or dehumanizing you. The word indicates the good and invites us to discern, but it does not condemn the person; it condemns the deed. God does not judge and does not condemn anyone. If we judge and condemn, we are condemning God, who does not condemn... He only loves. These things must be avoided so as not to be judged and condemned. Some say: 'I do not judge or condemn, so God will not judge and condemn me.' Wrong! It is not like that; otherwise, we are wrong... we still think of a God who condemns. If I judge the other, I assume as a criterion that I can be condemned; I am condemning myself. If we follow this principle of condemning, we are in the condition of being condemned ourselves.

Evil and sin must be condemned, not the sinner. A person cannot be judged because to judge means to tie the person to the destructive action that he has committed. NO. Lousy action is one thing, but the person is someone you have to love. If we assume God's thoughts and feelings, we will see these people worthy of love.

Forgive, and you will be forgiven. "Forgive." This verb 'to forgive' in Greek 'polùein' means 'to untie.' It means not having the rope around the neck tied to people who have made a mistake. Separate the person from that mistake so you will be spared. This is very beautiful because if we 'let' others out of their mistakes, we let ourselves go of our mistakes. To live happily, we must untie ourselves from our mistakes. We do not deny them, but we look at them serenely, knowing that God does not have us tied to our mistakes and does not wait for us to call us on account and for punishment. NO. We realize there has been a mistake; we see what we can do to repair it so as not to repeat it, but by unleashing others, we untie ourselves.

Finally, "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.” What does this 'giving' mean? Giving means giving everything. We return to 'Blessed are the poor,' those who have detached themselves from everything and made their lives a gift. They will receive a generous measure, abundant, in proportion to what they have given, receive a gift without measure. What is this gift? It is not a better place in paradise. This gift is a more remarkable resemblance to the Father of Heaven, who donates everything. The more we donate, the more this measure of resemblance to the Father of heaven will increase.

I wish everyone a good Sunday and a good week.