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Holy Cross Abbey

901 Cool Spring Lane Berryville, Virginia 22611

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Saturday of the First Week of Lent

March 16, 2019 by Fr Joseph

Just as the sun that rises on the bad and on the good would cease being the sun if it didn’t shine on the bad and the good, so God (whose very being is Love) would cease being God if he stopped loving. And so Jesus’ call to be perfect just as [our] heavenly Father is perfect, is really an invitation to divinization by becoming Love. For, when we become Love, then not loving (even if these be our worst enemies) becomes an impossibility without losing our very identity. And so the call to love and pray for our enemies is less about valiant acts of the will and going against natural inclinations, and more about becoming by grace what God is: Love. Love, then, is another way of describing perfection so that Jesus is really saying: Be Love, just as your heavenly Father is Love.

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