Reflection: Mark 5:43-48

11th Tuesday in Ordinary Time – Mark 5:43-48

Jesus continues to astonish his listeners by contradicting many of the ways of old. He instructs his listeners that they should love their enemies, not hate them or try to destroy them. Rather, they should pray for their enemies. His listeners were astounded! Why would they want to act in this way?

Ask yourself: who are my enemies? Why are they my enemies? What have they done to me that I put them in the category of an enemy? How does my seeing them as an enemy affect them? Or does it? Most likely, my feelings and attitude toward them affects me more significantly than it affects my enemy. This individual may not even be aware that I consider them an enemy.

Are we keeping ourselves in bondage with our hurt, anger or desire for revenge or by waiting for an apology? If so, we may end up being in bondage for the rest of our lives. Truly we are the only ones who can release ourselves from the bondage to our enemies. At times, our enemies may not have a clue that they have wounded us in some way.

However, Jesus asks much more of us! Jesus tells us to love our enemies. Now that is a huge leap! Also, we are to pray for those individuals who persecute us. Jesus desires that we love others as he loves us. No matter what we do in life, Jesus will never walk away from us when we have disappointed him. No, he stays at our side and continues to love us!

This is the “love” Jesus wants us to have for our families and friends. However, Jesus also desires more for us. Jesus wants us to love every single person as he loves us. Wow! This is asking more than most of us are willing to do!

Take a moment and ask yourself: who is the person in my family that I struggle with? Do I still “love” this person even when I don’t like him or her? We do have the ability to choose to love someone we do not like or a person who has hurt us in some way. True, this is not easy nor does it come naturally. However, we can make this choice. And only we can make this choice!

Today, what will we choose? Will we strive to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us? If we strive to do this, we may find that we experience more joy, happiness and peace. We also may feel less burdened. This may be a choice only we can make. And we have to make it consciously throughout our day. What will you and I choose today?