Perfection Itself

Gospel: Matthew 5: 43-48

The command to love from God is not only to those we like and to those who are close to us.  It also includes those we dislike and those who dislike us.  God provides good things for all people.  God created all people and all are God's children.  Even those who reject God remain God's children and have a place always in God's house - that is the lesson of the prodigal son.

Those who show mercy to the stranger and enemy is the one who fulfills the law of love - that is the message of the Good Samaritan.  The one who is godly loves all people, extends mercy without discrimination to all who need it.  Mercy is the seed the sower scatters far and wide with great generosity on all sorts of soil.

If we seek perfection, then we can only find it in a life of love for others, a life that again and again tries to love even those most difficult to love and care for.  Jesus met many difficult people in his ministry, and he met many who hated him.  Still, he ate with them, healed them, and extended mercy to them, even in the moment of their greatest hatred for him at the cross.  This is our way to follow as well.