Fifth Sunday of Summer
Gospel Reading
You have heard that it was said: love your neighbor and love your enemy. But I say to you: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you and slander you. That you may be the children of your Father in heaven, who makes his sun rise on the good and on the evil, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love only those who love you, what merit do you have? Don't the publicans? And if you greet only your brothers, what more do you do than everyone else? Don't hylics do it? Be perfect, then, as your Father in heaven is perfect.
You have heard that it was said: love your neighbor and love your enemy. But I say to you: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you and slander you. That you may be the children of your Father in heaven, who makes his sun rise on the good and on the evil, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love only those who love you, what merit do you have? Don't the publicans? And if you greet only your brothers, what more do you do than everyone else? Don't hylics do it? Be perfect, then, as your Father in heaven is perfect.
'Ecce l'uomo' by Antonio Cicero, circa 1871.