June 16, 2026 // Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48
Reflect on the Word //
As a recovering people-pleaser, I’ve had to wrestle with the reality that not everyone loves or likes me. I’m not everyone’s cup of tea—just as some people are not my cup of tea. One day in prayer, struggling over a situation involving someone who disliked me, I was inspired to ask the Lord, How do You see this person? God allowed me to imagine them in a glorified state, in the light of His love. Afterwards, I found myself more free to love this person with God’s transcendent love and genuinely pray for them even when their actions still stung.
This prayer reminded me that God has beautiful reasons for making humans so different. He is infinitely creative and loves variety. He gives us different strengths and allows particular weaknesses so that we are interdependent, relying on one another in community and complementing each other in the process.
Yet as fallen human beings, we also have different wounds, sins, and defects. Our differences often grate against one another in painful ways. This friction can tempt us to deep resentment, fear, and division—or it can propel us toward authentic virtue, repentance, and charity.
Thankfully, our Lord doesn’t call us to bulldoze healthy boundaries. We don’t need to give in to someone’s selfish whims or approve of unjust behaviors. Christ in today’s Gospel does not command us to like someone’s personality or actions, but rather to love the person themselves, made in the image and likeness of God (see Matthew 5:43-45).
How do we love other fallen children of God as Christ does? Through intercessory prayer and self-gift. Even if we never exchange words with our so-called “enemies” (sometimes it’s best not to!), we can still love them intentionally by praying for them and making little sacrifices for them.
None of us can journey through this life alone. Some people serve as companions on our journey— others, as instruments of sanctification.
This friction we experience from those instruments of sanctification, when paired with love, is like fine sandpaper. It smooths our roughest edges and shapes us ever more beautifully into the infinitely unique saints we were created to be.
Relate to the Lord // If you’re struggling with someone today, ask the Lord to show you how He sees that person. Notice how your heart changes.
