WORD 2day: Thursday, 23rd week in Ordinary Time
September 12, 2019: Colossians 3: 12-17; Luke 6: 27-38
As we hear the first reading today, if we do not clarify that the words are from the letter of St. Paul to the Colossians, one can easily misjudge those as some kind of paraphrasing of a part from the Gospel, as if they are words of Christ himself. Paul had so intensely taken in the spirit of Christ that his insistence of putting on Christ comes from his person much stronger than from his words.
Love is presented as the crux of Christ's message. When Paul says elsewhere too, by 'put on Christ', he practically means to put on love. Love is the sweetest of all teachings of Christ and it is the most difficult of all too, for it comes inbuilt with forgiveness; forbearance, kindness, gentleness, integrity and sacrifice. Isn't that difficult enough?
Love, according to the mind of Christ, is not to be understood as a childish sentiment of attachment and dependence, as the world today portrays. Looking at each other all the time, talking to each other incessantly, pleasing each other at all costs, missing even in a little absence - these seem to be defined as 'love' today! Much to its contrast, love is a Christlike self-giving. It is not about being with or without someone, but being for someone, willing to sacrifice for the other. It is a commitment to give life, give one's life, without counting the cost! Does it sound almost impossible?
Being a Christian is hard, the famous philosopher Kierkegaard would often reiterate - whether he understood it right or not, it is a fact. Yes, the fact is, if we believe being a Christian is to put on Christ, it can never happen except by putting on love!