God, How Can I Love My Neighbor?
"Be merciful as God is merciful [to you]." - Lk 6:36
Recently, life has been filled with stress, anxiety, and sleepless nights. Everything seems to have changed. My husband and I wonder, will he be among the tens of thousands of federal workers who were fired without notice?
In times of crisis, we over-function. My husband started applying and interviewing for a second job. I went back to school in order to go back to full-time consulting work sooner than planned. In between gymnastics and little league, you can find me holding lecture printouts and a cup of coffee, writing essays, or reading research papers.
As luck would have it, we've also had to navigate unforeseen car repairs, vet visits and doctor’s appointments for the kids. Our children have alternated being sick at home every week for the past 6 weeks. When my daughter looks at me with tears in her tired eyes, I tell her with tender resolve, "It's ok. It's going to be ok."
Life has been intense.
I read a recent news article about a family who had been deported as the undocumented mother was rushing her daughter, a U.S. citizen, to the hospital. The children no longer received the medical care she needed. The mother was at the mercy of those who have done this to her and her family.
I don't know what it is to be in their shoes or their story. Though, I do know what it's like to have a child who is one complication away from dying. I know what it is like to have my own intense life. So to have compassion and mercy towards them is second nature. There is a part of them I can relate to.
But what about those I can not? This Lenten season, we are invited to "love our neighbor," defining our neighbor as those who look, think, vote or believe differently than we do.
In today's Gospel, Jesus tells his followers to be merciful as God is merciful to them. There are no conditions or limits to who Jesus asks us to be merciful. The same goes for those we love, including our neighbors.
I still follow Jesus. So I ask God, how can I love my neighbor? How can I show mercy to those who I don't understand, and quite frankly, am frustrated with?
I'm taking this Lenten season as a time to desperately listen to how God is answering my plea.
Jesus, I hear your invitation to love my neighbor and to be merciful.
I want to follow you. I want to love like you, forgive like you, give grace and mercy like you. But sometimes I don't know how.
Open my eyes and heart to your guidance. That I may follow even when it's hard and I don't know what will happen next. Amen.
This Lenten season, have you heard Jesus call to you to love and be merciful to those who don’t look, think, believe, or vote like you do? How are you responding?
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