20 February 2027 · Latin Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Syro-Malabar Rite · മലയാളം
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Matthew 5:44
Moses, at the end of his long journey with Israel, describes the covenant as a solemn exchange of promises made “this very day”. “Today you have obtained the LORD's agreement: to be your God; and for you to walk in his ways… Today the LORD has obtained your agreement: to be his treasured people.” It sounds almost like a marriage vow. God binds himself to Israel, and Israel binds itself to God. The word “treasured” translates the Hebrew segullah, the private treasure a king keeps for himself apart from the state treasury. Israel is God's personal treasure, set “high above all nations”, not for pride but to be “a people holy to the LORD your God”. Every Christian has made this same exchange of promises at baptism, and every Mass renews it. In Lent we are invited to say again, “today”, that we belong to him and will walk in his ways.
Jesus now shows how far the ways of God reach. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” The sun does not choose whom to warm. If we love only those who love us, Jesus says, we are doing nothing more than tax collectors and pagans. Then comes the summit of the Sermon: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This perfection is not flawlessness but completeness of love: a love that, like the Father's, excludes no one. It is impossible on our own; it is the work of grace in God's treasured people. As the first week of Lent ends, we bring to God the one person we find hardest to love, and we pray for them by name.
Theme: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
God's treasured people, a love as wide as the sunrise, and the perfection of the Father.
“Today the LORD has obtained your agreement: to be his treasured people, as he promised you, and to keep his commandments;” Deuteronomy 26:18
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9
Apply: Renew your baptismal promises in prayer tonight.
“If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat; and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink;” Proverbs 25:21
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Matthew 5:44
Apply: Do one kind act for someone who has opposed you.
“Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD.” Psalm 119:1
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48
Apply: Ask God each morning of Lent to widen your love by one person.
We are God's treasured people by covenant.
Our love becomes perfect when, like the Father's, it excludes no one.
Take-home resolution: Pray every day of Lent for one person who has hurt you.
Dear friends, Moses tells Israel: today you have obtained the LORD's agreement: to be your God… Today the LORD has obtained your agreement: to be his treasured people (Deuteronomy 26:17–18). It is like a marriage vow between God and his people.
At baptism we made the same covenant. We are God's treasured people. Lent is the time to say again, today: I am yours, and I will walk in your ways.
Jesus shows us how far God's ways reach: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good (Matthew 5:44–45).
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Not flawless, but complete in love. As this first week of Lent ends, let us pray by name for the one person we find hardest to love. Amen.
Children, Jesus says: love even people who are unkind to you, and pray for them. The sun shines on everyone! Tonight, pray for someone who was not nice to you.
Father in heaven, you make your sun rise on the evil and on the good, and you have chosen us as your treasured people. Renew in us today the promises of our baptism. Give us a heart like yours, that we may love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, and grow towards the perfection of your love. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The first week of Lent ends with a covenant and a family likeness. In Deuteronomy God and Israel bind themselves to each other “today”, and Israel becomes his treasured people. In Matthew Jesus shows what the children of such a Father look like: they love even their enemies, because that is what he does. The key words are today, treasured and perfect.
Setting.
Deuteronomy is presented as Moses’ last address to Israel on the plains of Moab, before they cross into the land. Chapters 12–26 give the long code of laws. Today’s four verses are its closing lines. After all the statutes, Moses reminds the people what they mean: a relationship between God and his people.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“so observe them diligently with all your heart and with all your soul.” (26:16)
These are the words of the great commandment (Deuteronomy 6:5). The laws are to be kept not as an outward task but with one’s whole self.
“Today the Lord has obtained your agreement: to be his treasured people, as he promised you, and to keep his commandments;” (26:18)
Being treasured comes first, and it comes as a promise. The commandments are how the treasured live.
“and for you to be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.” (26:19)
Holiness here is a promise and not only a demand: “as he promised”. And the honor Israel receives among the nations (v. 19) belongs with this holiness: it is a people set high because it belongs to God.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that the commandments express the implications of belonging to God through the covenant, and that moral existence is a response to the Lord’s loving initiative (CCC 2062). The Second Vatican Council, speaking of the People of God, begins from God’s choice of Israel, and applies to the Church the words of 1 Peter 2:9, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people” (Lumen Gentium 9; CCC 781–782). The covenant with Israel is not thereby revoked (CCC 121, 839).
Setting.
This is the last of the six “You have heard… But I say to you” sayings, and the peak of them all. Love of neighbor is commanded in Leviticus 19:18. The words “hate your enemy” are not found in the Law. Jesus seems to be quoting a popular reading of the command, which took “neighbor” to imply its opposite. Many scholars also point to a text from Qumran that speaks of hating the sons of darkness.
Jewish Scripture itself had already pointed in Jesus’ direction: help your enemy’s stray animal (Exodus 23:4–5), and feed your enemy when he is hungry (Proverbs 25:21–22, quoted in Romans 12:20).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (5:44)
Prayer is where this love begins, and where it may have to stay for a long time. Christians suffer for their faith in many lands. The Lord’s command is to pray for them and for those who wrong them. We can pray for someone whom we cannot yet feel any warmth toward.
“so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good,” (5:45)
The reason is a family likeness. Children of this Father look like him. The sun is the great daily sermon on the mercy of God.
“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (5:46)
Jesus uses the people his hearers looked down on, and he himself ate with them (Matthew 9:10–13). The question is simple: what is different about you?
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (5:48)
Compare “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). The command is impossible by human strength, and that is why the Sermon also teaches us to ask.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that Christ died for us while we were still enemies (Romans 5:10), and that the Lord asks us to love as he does, even our enemies (CCC 1825). The “as” of Matthew 5:48 cannot mean imitating God from outside, but only sharing, in the depths of the heart, in the holiness and mercy of God (CCC 2842). The Council teaches that this perfection is for all the baptized (Lumen Gentium 40; CCC 2013). The first martyr followed his Lord’s example: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60).
Can anyone really be perfect? Is Jesus setting us up to fail?
He is setting a direction and a likeness, not a score to reach by ourselves. Perfection in Matthew means the wholeness of a love with no one left out. It grows through grace all through a life, and we always need the petition “forgive us our debts”. The saints did not think they had arrived, and that is part of why we call them saints.