Jesus said to his disciples:
You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.
— Matthew 5:43-48
The peace of the Lord be with you. Today Jesus calls us to live as God does with love and goodness for all people. Jesus stresses that God is love, and as such, God is always willing the good of the other. This does not ignore that there is evil and injustice in the world that is committed by people. What Jesus is saying is that the remedy cannot be like the offense.
The pain and suffering of the world can only be healed when we recognize our common divine source and treat each other like the caring family God intended us to be from the beginning. It is like the verse of the old soul tune…
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
it’s the only thing that there is just too little of…
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.