The Tuesday after the Ninth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 4, 2026 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 6:32-36 (NKJV)
6:32 “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. 36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”
Devotion
Our Lord Jesus cuts through our natural self-interest with the sharp edge of His holy Law. We prefer the comfortable circle of reciprocity—loving the lovable, doing good to those who return the favor. Yet this is no better than the way of the world. The Law exposes our selfish hearts and calls us higher. “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” Here shines the radiant Gospel: our heavenly Father does not love us because we first loved Him. While we were enemies—ungrateful and evil—Christ died for us. In Baptism He has made us sons of the Most High; not by our merit, but by His boundless mercy.
This mercy transforms us. Freed from the burden of earning love, we can now reflect the Father’s kindness. Loving enemies is not a new demand to justify ourselves before God—Christ has already done that—but the fruit of faith. In daily life, it means forgiving the unforgivable, helping the undeserving, and showing compassion without calculation.
Collect: Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy humble servants; and, that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please Thee; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
