Today is the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time and we are invited to reflect through our readings today specially the gospel on one of the most important lessons in Christianity - love, but not just loving... but loving unconditionally.
 
The gospel offers us a great challenge. "Love your enemies." 
 
I'm sure that all of us would certainly agree that this is a difficult task; yet, this is part of our commitment to discipleship. We cannot do this without the grace of God. In baptism, we became partakers in the divine life of God. We became, through the generosity of God's mercy, sharers with God's life. The life, which is God’s, is love. Through baptism, we were given the grace to partake into this gift. The grace of God will enable us to live the love that we are all called upon. Because of grace, we can love the way God loves us - merciful, unconditional, and without expecting anything in return. Only with and by the grace of God that we can have such love to others, especially to those who do us wrong.
 
Let us also remind ourselves that the gift of God's grace does not stop or is completed in baptism - it is an ongoing reception of this gift that we can truly be Christ's disciples. We must continuously and consciously make an effort to be committed in that love. It is helpful to begin the day with a short prayer asking God for the grace to love. In that way, we can transmit God's love to others in any kind of situation.
 
To love our enemies is not impossible. We have the grace of God to live in love, to be the love, to love.
 
Amen.

Today is the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The reflection on today's readings focus on the covenant that God made to His people. Jeremiah, in the first reading, has this as his theme throughout his prophetic ministry - God has made a pact to His people and He will fulfill His promise. The pact or the covenant that God has entered into with His chosen people will have its fulfillment upon the coming of His son. The Son, who is the image of the Father, is the one who will complete all the promises God made to His people since the beginning of time.
 
When Jesus proclaimed the truth as the one sent by the Father, the people didn't believe Him. In fact, they wanted Him killed but it wasn't His time yet. Jesus has challenged His followers to remain with Him until the end, until the fulfillment of all what has been prophesied about the Messiah.
 
Perhaps, in our time, as followers of Jesus, we have a greater challenge to remain with Him until the end. There are so many distractions around us that can pull us away from our desire to follow and serve God but if we will constantly pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in our faith, we will be able to conquer all the obstacles that may block our way towards Christian perfection.
 
Let us pray that we may become more committed in our desire to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. May the words of Jeremiah in the sacred scripture console us in times when we are doubting and failing: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." God knows us even before we were formed in our mother's womb. That is how He shows His love for us. Amen.