There are times in our lives when we recognize the need to ‘take things to the next level’, a desire to better our lives. This includes being a better Mom or Dad, son or daughter, student, employee, etc., etc. It also includes how we can live a healthier life emotionally and spiritually.
These last two weeks the Gospel has come from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ teachings on how we can improve our lives. In short, it is how we can grow closer to God (in whose image and likeness and we have been made), and what it looks like when we live in love with Jesus each day.
Today we hear the goal of the Christian life: “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” If we want to improve our lives, take things to the next level, we need to identify those areas of life where we fall short of perfection, of living as the Lord (the source of perfection) calls us to. Jesus gives us a good starting point: “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Who is it that just annoys us, raises our blood pressure, makes us angry or fearful. Not just the person who is our ‘sworn’ enemy or we interact with, but the person we see on TV or social media; the person that we roll our eyes whenever we see their name or picture. That is where we need to start; we need to be able to truly love them, desire the good for them. It may seem extremely difficult or impossible. We may justify why we don’t have to. But that is the way of the world, not the way of Christ. We can only live as Christ when we are living in union with Him.
Let us ask the Lord today to help us to respond in love (inwardly and outwardly) to all we encounter. Let us ask Him for healing and the ability to see with the eyes of faith and to recognize Christ at work, even in our enemies.
Living in Love with God 
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