Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the Resurrection of the Lord as well as the feastday of all the Holy Hierarchs of Moscow!

In today’s Gospel reading we heard how it is necessary to treat our neighbours in the same way as we would have them treat us. St. Cyrill of Alexandria explains that these words are the conclusion to what was said earlier. In the first part of the 6th chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel our Saviour spoke the Beatitudes. He also instructed us to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, to freely give away that which people try to take from us, etc. It’s hard for us to understand what exactly it means to love our enemies, how to forgive those who offend us or how to give the other cheek to be smitten. This is especially difficult when our enemy attacks and destroys our peaceful existence or when someone has greatly offended us. It is because of this that Jesus Christ added the words that we heard at the beginning of today’s Gospel reading.

Each of us can ask ourselves the following question: “How would I like for people to act towards me in any particular concrete situation?” If we don’t forget to ask this question in our everyday affairs and to act according to the answer to this questions, it seems that we will sin quite a bit less.

It’s difficult to act in a like manner when we know, or can guess, that we will not receive a good or pleasant answer to our kind deeds. Therefore Christ added all the rest which we heard being read today. When our neighbours thank and praise us, when they love us because we are kind to them, their reaction to us in and of itself becomes our reward. To love those that are kind to us is easy – it’s natural. To love our enemy, that is to treat him kindly, expecting nothing good or pleasant in return, is much harder and, for us humans, unnatural. Because of this the reward will be great. The person who acts in such a manner will become a son of God.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, let’s strive to be sons and daughters of our God. Let’s remember the closing words of today’s Gospel, that we must try to be like our Heavenly Father. Let’s remember that our Lord created the whole world and each of us individually, granting us free will to live as we see fit, expecting nothing great in return from us. Let’s remember His Only-Begotten Son who became a man and accepted all the struggles of earthly life, including even death, so as to free us from sin and death. Let’s never forget that we can do absolutely nothing to return the favour or to pay back God for those gifts He has bestowed on us. Perhaps if we keep these thoughts constantly in our minds it will become easier to act towards everyone, including our enemies, in the same way that we would like them to act towards us.

priest Alexis