Saturday of the First Week of Lent, March 15, 2025

 Saturday of the First Week of Lent, March 15, 2025

Today’s Readings, from the USCCB:

Reading 1

Deuteronomy 26:16-19

Moses spoke to the people, saying: "This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments, he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised."

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8

R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!

Blessed are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD. Blessed are they who observe his decrees, who seek him with all their heart.

R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!

You have commanded that your precepts be diligently kept. Oh, that I might be firm in the ways of keeping your statutes!

R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!

I will give you thanks with an upright heart, when I have learned your just ordinances. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me.

R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!

 

Verse Before the Gospel

2 Corinthians 6:2b

Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

 

Gospel

Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

 

Loving When It’s Hardest

"You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." – Matthew 5:43-44

Loving people when it’s easy?

That’s not a challenge.

Loving the ones who have stood by me, who have shown me kindness, who have been loyal – that doesn’t take effort.

But Jesus isn’t asking me to love the people who make it easy.

He’s asking me to love when it’s hard.

And that’s where I struggle.

I have forgiven people.

But I don’t forget.

I have swallowed my pride, let go of my anger, and tried to move forward.

But the scars remain.

I’ve gone through times when people I once considered very good friends – the kind of people I laughed with, shared drinks with, felt at home with – turned on me. I didn’t see it coming. One day, everything was normal. The next, they are (and one in particular had been) gossiping behind my back, alienating me from one of my favorite places, making me feel like an outsider in a space that used to be mine.

I still don’t fully understand why.

And then there’s family.

Family who should know me better, who should ask before assuming, who should care enough to listen – but instead, they judge. They believe their perception only. They said things that cut deep, words that weren’t just wrong but cruel. They turned their backs without ever giving me a chance to speak for myself.

And yet… I still try to love them.

I wish I could say that comes easily.

It doesn’t.

What Does It Mean to Love When It Hurts?

Jesus doesn’t just say, love your enemies.

He says, pray for those who persecute you.

That’s a whole different level.

It’s one thing to say, I forgive you.

It’s another to actually want good for someone who has wronged me.

Do I really pray for the people who hurt me?

Do I ask for their hearts to be changed, not out of bitterness, but out of genuine hope?

Do I want them to find peace – even if they never apologize?

Or do I just say, I forgive them while secretly hoping they feel what they put me through?

That’s where I get stuck.

Because part of me feels like they don’t deserve it.

But then I read today’s Gospel, and Jesus reminds me – neither do I.

God’s Love Doesn’t Pick Sides

"For He makes His sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust."

I want justice.

I want fairness.

I want people to realize what they did.

But God doesn’t love based on merit.

He doesn’t say, I’ll only bless you if you deserve it.

He lets the sun rise on the people who have wronged me just as much as He lets it rise on me.

And if that’s how He loves, then that’s how I’m supposed to love, too.

But How Do I Actually Do That?

The first reading from Deuteronomy says: "Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul."

Not just with my words. Not just with my actions. But with my heart.

That means I have to stop carrying the bitterness, even when I feel justified in it.

That means I have to truly want good for people who have hurt me.

That means I have to let go – not just in what I say, but in how I feel.

And that’s hard.

But maybe that’s why Jesus says, Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Because real love, the kind that costs something, the kind that forces me to let go of pride and resentment – that’s what makes me more like Him.

A Love That Sets Me Free

The verse before the Gospel says: "Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

Now.

Not when I feel ready.

Not when they apologize.

Not when it’s easier.

Now.

I don’t have to forget. But I do have to love anyway.

And maybe, in doing that, I’ll be the one who is finally free.