Luke 6: 27-38

Introductory Prayer:

God the Father, thank you for the giftof creation, including my own life. God the Son, thank you for redeeming me atthe price of your own Body and Blood. God the Holy Spirit, thank you for beingthe sweet guest of my soul, enlightening my mind, strengthening my spirit andkindling the fire of your love in my heart.

Petition:

Lord Jesus, help me to actively seekthe perfection you desire for me.

1. Revolution or Civil War?

The values thatJesus proposes in his sermon on the mountain might be termed “revolutionary.”Never had the ideal of love been placed so high, demanding such heroism inpractice. That’s why what Jesus asks provokes a struggle within me, between the“old man,” who resists this message, and the ideals my Lord places before me.This might be termed a “civil war” played out on the battlefield of my heart.

2. The Golden Rule:

Jesus gives me whathas been termed the “Golden Rule”: do to others as you would have them do toyou. Since I naturally love myself to the point of desiring all good things andnothing bad to come my way, Jesus exhorts me to transfer that benevolence toothers. This requires an effort for me, since I tend towards egoism. What canlift me up out of my smallness, my narrowness?

3. Becoming like God:

God’s plan for me ismarvelous. It exceeds my comprehension to hear Jesus tell me to be perfect, notaccording to a standard of human perfection, but according to divineperfection. My vocation is to become like God – for his divine life to increasein me and for my narrow, egoistic standards to diminish and disappear. I wouldnot strive for such a high goal, if it were not commanded by my Lord. I musttrust that he can do it in me. What I have to do is to collaborate with him,seeking him in prayer and discerning his will for me always.

Conversation withChrist:

I thank you, LordJesus, for wanting to transform

me into a greater likeness of God. Without you,

this is impossible. With you, everything is possible,

even in me with all myweaknesses and limitations. Your will be done!

Resolution:

I will transform my way of judgingfrom my point of view to God’s. Today I will strive to put into practice the“Golden Rule”.