From Natural to Supernatural
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The Gospel reading from today’s Mass reveals Jesus’ teaching about how God expects us to behave. These directives from the Lord are counterintuitive and seem opposite of what is often our “natural” response.
Jesus says we are to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us and bless those who curse us. But because of our fallen human nature, we tend to hate our enemies, retaliate against those who hate us and condemn those who curse us. When someone strikes us we most often strike back.
The Lord tells us there is no credit in loving those who love us and no credit in doing good to those who do good to us; even sinners do the same, Jesus says. Rather, he calls us to love and do good to our enemies and lend without expecting anything back. Such expectations might seem impossible to many.
It seems that Jesus is calling us to be different than the world in which we live. We are not to “fit in” and act like the non-believers that surround us. The Lord calls us to live in a manner that reflects the love and mercy of God and this demands divine help; we cannot do it on our own. We need God’s grace to enable us to resist the temptations of our fallen human nature and to strive to love in the manner God desires us to love.
Fervent prayer and frequent recourse to the sacraments are ways that we seek divine assistance and help us to overcome our natural tendencies (i.e. those that spring from our human nature wounded by sin). With God’s grace we can live, not just naturally, but supernaturally (i.e. above our fallen nature).
God made us for excellence and ultimately to share in his divine nature. He wants to help us achieve those lofty goals. With God, all things are possible. So, seek God’s help to become what you could never become on your own.
Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life,
