The God in today's first reading is a God who judges and punishes. Jesus of the Gospel, however, shows us the loving mercy of the Father - He showers His gifts on all. When we Christians see this and understand, we have no grounds to discriminate against men or women, young or old, Christian or Muslim, indigenous or immigrants, able-bodied or physically/mentally challenged.

And, it is on this high ground of the Father's loving kindness that Jesus commands us Christians to love one another, even and especially, our enemy!

To love is a huge challenge. We are not bad people - we work hard for our family; we care for our friends and our Church. But a major weakness of ours is that we tend to follow our own prejudices - we think we are superior to some others; we often look down on some people; we cannot forgive; we make enemies.

If we do not show mercy to all like the Father, or lay down ourselves for all like the Son, we are not a perfect loving person.