General. As humans, negative thoughts encompass us, throwing us back to the primordial times when we did not know good from bad or mercy from revenge. Our Collect Prayer this Sunday is that God might give us the grace to live His life, that we might have positive thoughts about everything and that in our words and doings we might be a reflection of His image within us, especially after having partaken in the Liturgy of the Eucharist which is a celebration of the Mystery of God’s giving of Himself to humanity at its worst moment when it denied Him even unto death on the Cross.

Leviticus. The love towards one’s enemies is an antithesis of the meaning attributed to love by the world. God desires our holiness and sainthood, just as He is holy. Hate shown towards one’s neighbours causes a christian to depart from God’s ways and no way could he further merit the name of being ‘a follower of Christ’ which he bears.

First Epistle to the Corinthians. St Paul writes that the temple of God is within us all, where the Spirit abides. Any action contrary to this Spirit destroys the temple within us and causes disruption among the community. Worldly wisdom disrupts the Spirit which abides in simple, humble abodes bereft of boastful knowledge and sophistry.

St Matthew. The Sermon on the Mount produces an identikit of the christian who has to be just as perfect as his Heavenly Father is. God sent His Son into the world, and Jesus loved the world right at the time when it hated him most. Jesus did not act like pagans, but he loved the world at the time it wished him dead on the cross. Yet Jesus turned the cross into a tool of love and urges his followers to do likewise – ‘the charity of Christ drives us on’, according to St Paul.

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