Some years ago I came into contact with a gentleman whose example has made a lasting impression on my life and has positively influenced my own behaviour and attitude towards others.

At the time we met he was in a junior management position in a particular organisation with aspirations of moving into middle management. Within the organisation there was a small group of people who did not want my friend to advance any further because he was “not one of them”.

As a result they made life very difficult for him doing everything to destroy his professional image. In spite of all that was said and done he never retaliated in any way towards them but continued to treat them with the greatest of respect and human compassion.

I remember asking him one evening what made it possible for him to not react in like manner towards them. He said to me “Glen, because I am a Christian I have the grace to be different and I will use that race to choose to respond to them with love”.

Jesus in today’s gospel invites us “who are listening” to a similar response. Today’s gospel continues from the past few weeks to teach us the formation attitudes and principles that will make us disciples of Christ and so transform our world.

In our reflections this week we are invited to consider our response to those with whom we do not agree, those who may be called “our enemies”.

It is very easy to love those who love us “and to pray for those who wish us well. The disciple however is one who, especially in the face of persecution “blesses” those who “curse” him and “prays for those who treat them badly”.

Such attitudes cannot be developed and lived through our own human efforts but are only possible, as my friend pointed out to me, through grace. It is that grace, the grace of Jesus that will allow us to respond and not react in the face of persecution.

This Sunday then, let us reflect on our lives, as individuals, as families and as communities. Are we a people who react based on human principles, or do we, through the Grace of Christ, respond in love, to our enemies.

For all the times that we have responded in grace, let us celebrate and ask God, through His Son Jesus, to continue to provide us with that grace to “bless those who curse us and pray for those who treat us badly”.

For those times when we have reacted based on human principles let us ask for forgiveness as we recognise that such actins d not make us disciples since even “sinners do that much”.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the grace of your Son Jesus Christ and the transforming power it has on our lives. Because of the grace we are able to live as disciples, loving our enemies, blessing those who curse us and praying for those who treat us badly. May we continue to open ourselves to that grace so that our lives will have a transforming effect on our world.  Amen.

Gospel Meditations for February are by Glen Cazoe, a member of the Maloney Parish, the Church of the Incarnation.