Saturday of the First Week of Lent
To be like God is the goal of the disciple, the believer, and God is constantly helping us see that we are quite unlike him. The habit of ancient pagan religions was to associate divinity with power and authority, strength and domination. Their gods were greatest who were strongest. Throughout salvation history, the Lord has revealed his power to be quite the opposite. Before Moses God calls himself, “The Lord, the Lord, a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love and fidelity” (Exod 34:6). This is a new revelation.
Hence Jesus’s teaching today: “love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father.” We children are called to be like our good Father, who is so unlike the pagan gods. He does not rule with an iron fist nor dominate those who rebel against him. He does not strike down the sinner nor destroy the one who offends him. He always chooses blessing, risking embarrassment and disrespect, knowing that the one he forgives is likely to reject him again. That is divine love. Let us imitate it and see how the pain it brings makes us more like the one who made us.