Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
We have VERY challenging readings today. In 1 Kings, Ahab and Jezebel get their comeuppance for stealing the ancestral land of Naboth whom we heard about yesterday. From the beginning of this reading, we learn whose side God takes as He sends the prophet Elijah to “the vineyard of Naboth” to confront Ahab. Then for several verses we hear Elijah foretell God’s awful plans for Ahab and Jezebel and their family. The summary statement that Ahab had made himself “completely abominable” lands heavily. But then we get the end of the story. When Ahab sincerely repents, God notices and takes a step back from the horrors that were prophesied. This shows us that no matter how we have “given ourselves up to doing evil,” repentance is possible and will be noticed by God.
Psalm 51 draws us into that repentance, asking God “for the greatness of your compassion.” And this compassion of God is what Jesus in the Gospel tells us must be the mark of our lives. We must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. This is NOT easy!!! People don’t have to persecute me – only to bother me by what I see as their policy blunders, for me to rant at the news. And then there are family, community, neighborhood members whom I fail to love – and they would never be considered enemies!
So what to do in the face of these readings? Keep our focus on the greatness of God’s compassion and capacity to forgive. And know that just as the mercy of God prevails, we can extend that mercy to others, starting with our prayer and gradually stretching into action.
—Sr. Laura M. Leming, FMI, PhD