+(intro) Today we pray the Office and celebrate this Eucharist for vocations to the religious and priestly life. With representatives from a number of our Cistercian communities we know well the need for new members and the importance of our being living examples of our life. So let us be mindful of our sins as we begin this Eucharist.
(After the Gospel) As we just heard, we are being called to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. This means loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. One cannot help thinking that our world would be totally transformed if we Christians faithfully carried out this command of the Lord Jesus.
And we all have many occasions to live in this kind of love as we live the community life or in a family. All our human weakness surfaces in our life together, rubbing shoulders with one another. Only with the life of the Holy Spirit coursing through our veins are we able to live in this kind of openness and vulnerability. But isn’t this why we gather around this table and remember that great act of love that seeks to flow in our veins all day long?
1 Kings 21:17-29; Matt 5:43-48