Daily Gospel Reflection for June 15. 2021

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48

Perfect… I shudder when I read those words. “Be Perfect.” God is calling me not only to love my enemies, but to be PERFECT as I do it. To love my enemies is difficult enough of a command from Jesus, but then to be perfect at it as well. It just sounds overwhelming in practice.

Yesterday, I loved my enemy, I prayed for them. Then something happened - an incident, a harsh word, a wounding – and again I stumble. Today was not a day I loved them. How can I love them perfectly when they are near me, and the thing that makes them my enemy, their harming God through their actions to others, is ongoing?

Only our heavenly Father is perfect; and yet, I am being called to also be perfect. Doesn’t God know I’m already a struggling perfectionist? His command just adds more pressure to my life to attain the unattainable.

Wait. God wouldn’t call me to do something if he didn’t know I can do it. Maybe this call to be perfect is like the call to holiness or to be a saint. I need to take it one step at a time and focus on the immediate in front of me. I can’t learn to love like Jesus overnight, but by trying every day in prayer, I will get better and grow in love.

God is calling me to be perfect in love, and only by trusting in Him and continuing to rely on Him will I have the strength and discipline to love like He taught us.

Ponder:

How do I show love each day to those around me who cause harm to others?

Pray:

Lord, you have called me to be perfect in love. Show me the way to love those next to me who continue to do harm.

God is calling me not only to love my enemies, but to be PERFECT as I do it. #dailygospel

Copyright 2021 Lisa Henley Jones