R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment, says the Lord:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“To you who hear I say,
love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”

Today’s Gospel reading is one that no one likes to face, in reality it is a good examination of conscience for how we treat people, it is not about how we treat those we like, but those we do not like and the people who do not like us.

“Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you, turn your cheek to those who strike you, give to all who beg from you and expect no repayment in return for doing any of this.  To hear these words is not easy.

We love when Jesus blesses the children, when He promises us eternal life, even when He asks us to love one another, but when He asks us to love our enemies and to pray for those who mistreat us, that seems to be difficult and not easy to swallow.

If someone dislikes you, you have two choices to consider: you can dislike them back or you can refuse to dislike them.  If someone hurts you, you can respond one of two ways, you can hurt them back or you can refuse to hurt.

What is difficult is that this teaching goes against our human nature because we live in a world and culture that encourages us not to pass up any opportunity or chance to get even, or to settle the score whenever someone has offended us.

“She didn’t speak to me this morning“, she’s such a snob.

“He didn’t listen to my side of the story last week.” He is so uncaring, insensitive.

“The checkout clerk cheated me and gave me the wrong change at the grocery store, they’re so careless”.

“My client bought some products from another distributor, that’s loyalty for you.”

Each day without even realizing it, we decide one another’s worth and value, and can easily judge or pass blame on each other.

When we are hurt, we usually hurt in return, when someone dislikes us, we dislike back, when someone approaches us with gossip, we usually respond with greater gossip.

The Gospel reading today is very powerful and straightforward, it is so straightforward that it is almost disturbing.

It is a continuation of theSermon on the Mount, and just like last week, Jesus tells his listeners what it means to be a follower of Christ, what it means to be a Christian person.  Very similar to the Beatitudes from last week.

Christianity, life in Christ’s body also has a plan, a rulebook, a code of ethics and today Jesus is telling us THIS IS THE WAY IT IS.

Love your enemies: do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who hurt you.

Give to those who need: do not demand repayment.

Be compassionate, do not judge, do not condemn, forgive.

Strong words when you think about it, and even stronger words to put into practice and that is what Jesus is challenging you and me to do because that is what we have said we would do as members of his body.So perhaps we need to ask ourselves, if we like the outcome we are getting by responding to hurt with more hurt, to violence with more violence, and to gossip with more gossip.  Are we content with the outcome from following the principle of “getting even” every time we have been offended.

The Gospel teaching today is powerful, straightforward, plain, and straight to the to the point.

Before we dismiss this teaching as something that is undoable, should we admit that the present way of life of always getting even seems to be getting us nowhere.  Perhaps God has noticed that as well.  Maybe God has noticed how we are with one another.  How we misuse the world, each other’s feelings, and taking advantage of one another.

Jesus’ words challenge those who follow Him to more like God.  God loves us beyond our expectations, beyond anything we can possibly imagine.  In response to God’s love, we are to love as God loves, beyond expectations and with a depth beyond imagining.

Deacon Antonio Falasca, Permanent Deacon, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basilica and Saint Anthony Parish

Ever since I was a young boy, one of my desires is to travel to the Grand Canyon. I would love to see the layered bands of colorful rock that have been carved out by the Colorado River revealing 6 million years of geologic history. Yet, with all its grandeur and magnificence, the Grand Canyon can’t compare to the splendor of Heaven.

But my real desire in going to the Canyon is to scream into it and hear my echo. Yes, it would be my echo returning to me; not someone else’s; not a manufactured voice; but my own unique voice. I am in charge of what is being said. Imagine, of all the voices that have echoed; of all the sounds that have reverberated off the Canyon’s walls, my voice would have produced the sound that creates that particular echo.

I should also like to throw a stone into the Canyon. While untold billions of rocks have eroded and fallen to the bottom, the one I throw from the top of the Canyon would have gotten there because I threw it; I would have caused it to descend. What an awesome feeling that in both the echo and the rock, I would be responsible for the action. And, like untold millions of others who have ever shouted or thrown a rock into the Canyon, each of us could lay claim to doing something of our own making. We are in charge of our actions.

Today’s Sacred Gospel reading is a continuation of last Sunday’s Gospel account of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain. If you recall, Jesus looked at His disciples and taught, “Blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who weep and mourn, and those who are judged and hated on account of the Son of Man.”

The primary focus of Jesus’ instruction is for each of us to be obedient to the Father’s Commandment to have an unconditional love for all; especially for our enemies. This type of love, a deep-seated love, seeks the good for all and never wishes ill for anyone.

Jesus exhorts us to bless those who curse us and pray for those who persecute us. He calls us, challenges us and teaches us to do good without expecting anything in return and to be “merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful”; to pardon everyone; to be generous without measuring or calculating. And He says, “…the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

In short, Jesus is teaching us with what can be known as “The Law of the Echo” that, when simply stated affirms that you get back from life exactly what you give to life. “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you.” The way we treat others will be the standard for the way we are judged by God.

In today’s first Scripture Reading, David had an opportunity to repay hate with hate. David’s high moral character causes him to respond, “I will not raise a hand against my master, for he is the LORD’S anointed” (1 Sam 24:11). Saul has hate; David shows mercy. God favors those who show justice toward others and faithfulness to God.

Jesus is intent on changing the way we think as well as the way we act; especially toward those who have wronged us. As challenging as this may be, the Gospel calls us to an even higher standard: we must be merciful as God is merciful. In each case those who follow Jesus are told to act toward their enemies in a way exactly opposite to the way they themselves are treated.

Even in the face of hatred, bigotry, slander, and corruption of all kind Jesus preaches the way we confront these evils is with love. We don’t fight fire with fire; we fight fire with water. We don’t fight hatred with hatred; we fight hatred with love.

Jesus calls us to be different. He teaches us to be a paradox. Our words and actions must be ones of love.  Only then can our words echo back mercy. Only then can rocks thrown at us become living stones to build the Kingdom of God.

There is no denying that theft, lies, deceit, abortion, murder, divorce, and the cancel culture pervade our world. Our challenge is to evaluate our words and actions. After all, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The key words here are “opposite reaction”. Let us not return evil for evil; hate for hate; disagreement with elimination.

So, keep in mind; if you shout in an echo chamber a shout will return to you. If you curse a curse will return to you. If you sing a song of love, that song will return to you. And, if you throw a stone at someone, be prepared to have it thrown back. A person gets back from life exactly what the person gives to life. Give abuse and you will get abuse. Give love and you will get love.

What would you rather have in return?

Deacon Mark Izzo, Permanent Deacon, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basilica and Saint Anthony Parish

A bishop in a conversation with me said that there was a lot of anger in our world.  This conversation was several years ago, and now I look at the world today and see that the anger in the world is still present, if not even more.    This anger brings me to the door of forgiveness: for whenever anger is not resolved within an individual, that is when the question of whether to forgive is present within the individual.   

Let me first talk about forgiveness from a human point of view.  Take a person who has been hurt by another person, and the hurt has been even unjustly and intentionally inflicted. There comes the anger, the resentment, the hostility.  The individual, from a human point of view, may realize that even though very hurt, he or she needs to forgive or else he or she will never let go of all the negatives that this grave hurt has caused within.

I think that it is not at all easy to forgive! But humanly speaking, it is for the person’s own good to be at peace — to let go of it.    

Let us now go to the level of Divine forgiveness as taught by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who gives us the lesson to even forgive those who hate you.   That is very big, very enormous; but I think this too is for our own good.  For by “loving” those who may hate you, they cannot have power over you.  And you are free and at peace.

Go one more step.  This I think is the most important step: We at Mass are about to enter into the Sacred Mysteries. On the Altar is the very Body of Christ, given up for you; on the Altar the Chalice of His Most Precious Blood, poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sins and the sins of the whole world. Measure up! Let us follow the Way of Forgiveness Who is present on this Altar.

Monsignor Michael J. Cariglio, Jr., Pastor, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basilica and Saint Anthony Parish

In those days, Saul went down to the desert of Ziph
with three thousand picked men of Israel,
to search for David in the desert of Ziph.
So David and Abishai went among Saul’s soldiers by night
and found Saul lying asleep within the barricade,
with his spear thrust into the ground at his head
and Abner and his men sleeping around him.

Abishai whispered to David:
“God has delivered your enemy into your grasp this day.
Let me nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear;
I will not need a second thrust!”
But David said to Abishai, “Do not harm him,
for who can lay hands on the LORD’s anointed and remain unpunished?”
So David took the spear and the water jug from their place at Saul’s head,
and they got away without anyone’s seeing or knowing or awakening.
All remained asleep,
because the LORD had put them into a deep slumber.

Going across to an opposite slope,
David stood on a remote hilltop
at a great distance from Abner, son of Ner, and the troops.
He said: “Here is the king’s spear.
Let an attendant come over to get it.
The LORD will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness.
Today, though the LORD delivered you into my grasp,
I would not harm the LORD’s anointed.”

R (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R The Lord is kind and merciful.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R The Lord is kind and merciful.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
R The Lord is kind and merciful.

Brothers and sisters:
It is written, The first man, Adam, became a living being,
the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
But the spiritual was not first;
rather the natural and then the spiritual.
The first man was from the earth, earthly;
the second man, from heaven.
As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly,
and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly.
Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.

It has long been a Catholic understanding that when circumstances prevent one from receiving Holy Communion, it is possible to make an Act of Spiritual Communion, which is a source of grace. Spiritual Communion is an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament and lovingly embrace him at a time or in circumstances when one cannot receive Him in sacramental Communion. The most common reason for making an Act of Spiritual Communion is when a person cannot attend Mass. Acts of Spiritual Communion increase our desire to receive sacramental Communion and help us avoid the sins that would make us unable to receive Holy Communion worthily.

Spiritual Communion Prayer

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.

I love you above all things and I desire to receive you in my soul.

Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally,

Come at least spiritually into my heart.

I embrace you as if you were already there

And unite myself wholly to you.

Never permit me to be separated from you.

Amen.