That Extra Mile

WORD 2day: Monday, 11th week in Ordinary time

June 15, 2020: 1 Kings 21: 1-16, Matthew 5: 38-42

Jesus presents to us the most impractical of all his teachings... showing the other cheek, giving more of what you are deprived of, and walking that extra mile with the one who tries to take advantage of me. This was in fact the teaching that inspired the "satyagraha" movement of Mahatma Gandhi.

The first reading presents us with the exploitative element that is always present giving us the opportunity to practice our virtues and attain our salvation. At times the evil around us threatens to take the better of us, but the Word today reminds us of a fundamental attitude we are called to: "do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom 12:21).

Looking at the evil that is present, the treacherous exploitative forces around and inhuman policies that deprive the innocent and vulnerable of their ordinary life and its possibilities, there are so many who are prone to adapt the same methodology to fight back: perpetrating evil by violence and killing, justifying exploitation of another category of people by the so-called deprived or making rules and policies that seem to salvage the situation for some but put the rest of the humanity into a sense of hurt and revenge. What is the real solution: it is nothing other than true love, a love that is modelled after the mercy of God, revealed in Christ.

That we can identify ourselves as disciples of Christ, we are expected to be spiritually prepared to allow ourselves be taken for granted without letting the goodness within us go down the drain; we are called to be who we are - good and loving - regardless of what others are! It is of course difficult and demanding...but that alone can make a difference in the world - that extra mile.