7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
In our reading, we are called to be holy because God is holy and we are his family. God is always challenging us. We are not only called to love others but to not stay angry with them either. We can tell them when they did something wrong because sometimes we hurt others without knowing it.
In our gospel, we are told to "love your enemies and pray for people who are unkind to you and who say bad things about you." I thought we were to love our neighbour and hate your enemies. What about revenge? Sorry. Jesus also had enemies but he forgave them and he prayed for them, too. He didn’t hold a grudge and he didn’t hate them. We are called to follow Jesus’ example. We are to forgive anyone who isn’t nice to us and we want others to forgive us for hurting them.
Special Saint/Feast Day: St. Barbatus – February 19th
Barbatus was born in Italy in 612. He took his faith very seriously and he especially liked to read the bible.
As soon as he was old enough, he was ordained a priest. He became a pastor and found his life would not be easy.
He would try to encourage the people to lead better lives and he reminded them to be sorry for their sins. Some of the people were angry and they forced him to leave the parish.
He returned to his home town of Benevento and found many people there who kept pagan idols in their homes. He preached against these beliefs. Father Barbatus warned them that because of this sin, their city would be attacked by enemies and it was.
Afterward, the people gave up their idols and peace returned.
Father Barbatus was appointed as bishop and he continued his work to convert his people.
He died on February 29th, 682 at the age of 70 years.
Good parish priests, like St. Barbatus, will challenge us to live according to the teachings of Jesus. Let us listen to their advice and follow it.