Pray...Love...Be Perfect

~~~ Deuteronomy 26:16-19 ~~~ Psalm 119 ~~~ Matthew 5:43-48 ~~~

...love your enemies,

and pray for those who persecute you...

During this Jubilee Year of Mercy

we are invited to take this message 

from today's readings seriously.

It is contrary to love our enemies

 or those we believe are our enemies.

We often do not really want to love those unlike ourselves.

Is it possible that we could be mistaken

 in our perception of who our enemies really are?

Could it be a case where we assume someone to be our enemy

when in reality we do not know the individual?

Sometimes we even decide to consider an entire group

of people to be our enemies.

...pray for those who persecute you...

If we begin by praying for those we do not view as friends

eventually God will soften our heart.

It only takes a small change to transform our heart.

Consider the kaleidoscope...in one slight turn of the lens

 the entire picture changes.

By continuing to restrict your love to only those who love you

you may be depriving yourself of a whole different view.

A view that might be just as beautiful if not more beautiful.

So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

We think of being perfect as totally out of our scope of possibilities.

Striving to be perfect is more about 

consistently challenging yourself to change your focus...

to turn the lens ever so slightly.

We are so blessed to have this ability to change...

we are not stone sculptures frozen in time.

Our faith would become dull and lifeless

if we could not strive to be more perfect.

Even the saints did not believe that were perfect;

they continued to make the decision to keep trying.

Let every day bring the intention

to love more..to strive to be more holy.

Let God fine tune your lens;

he alone can soften your heart toward your enemies.

He alone supplies the grace as we strive to be more perfect.

So be perfect...

You will be Blessed...It is good for the soul.

~~~Peace~~~