Today once again
Jesus invites us to be perfect - complete like God - with no gaps in our
loving. And when we hear him say, “Love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,” we realize he is inviting us to
be as compassionate as he will be on the cross. Our initial shudder
at such a daunting invitation softens as we understand that his call is to a
place of real freedom, the freedom to love because we know ourselves truly
loved and beloved of God, beloved of our Father, just as Jesus himself is.
Understanding
himself as so beloved, Jesus can lovingly, courageously, even joyfully suffer
the shame and horror of his passion and cross. He freely goes down to this
lowest, most painful place out of love. And his experience as victim of his
passion is not a place where he gets stuck. He neither curses his oppressors
nor relishes his victimhood. He forgives the perpetrators of his own
execution. He is perfectly free to suffer, free to suffer because
he knows it does not define him; it’s not his truth.
We too can afford to
love as God loves; Jesus shows us our hearts are big enough. Our love can
be perfect and complete because we are beloved like him. He empowers us to be lovingly vulnerable with him, in him.
Photograph by Brother Brian.
