Matthew 5, 38-48<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Agere contra<\/em> is a spiritual exercise articulated by St Ignatius Loyola aiming to fight against the temptations of the evil spirit. To act against<\/em> one\u2019s natural tendency strengthen the will to make choices in the most independent from natural impulses or spiritually damaging suggestions way. A practical example of the usage of the rule in prayer is that if someone has planned to pray for 40 minutes and 5 minutes before the end feels a temptation to finish earlier, he can act against it by praying 5 minutes longer than planned instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ignatius also suggests another rule called magis<\/em> \u2013 \u201cmore.\u201d We should have the desire to go further in our love of God. Magis<\/em> might be a general rule of our lives, not only in spiritual matters but also in daily things \u2013 that we can reach higher and more, and do better. It is not an egoistic \u201cmore,\u201d or a prestigious one, but the more motivated, in the first place, by a desire for God\u2019s glory to increase. This rule says about doing the best we can in every possible action or even trying to reach behind what we expect to be possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These two Ignatian rules can help us understand the Gospel message today. First of all, the instructions Jesus gives His disciples are a calling for agere contra<\/em> in a positive sense. Does everyone have to give the second cheek to be hit? Common sense would say that it is unreasonable. Nor is it a natural attitude to love the enemies and to wish them well. However, it is great to act against this tendency \u2013 to fulfil Christ\u2019s will and for the greater glory of God. It is our magis<\/em>, as we overcome our limited nature to be more godly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ\u2019s task for us today is, therefore, that we truly \u201cbecome perfect just as [our] heavenly Father is perfect.\u201d In the act of love to which Jesus calls us, we go beyond our natural human limitations because we can go beyond our instincts. We can give magis<\/em> \u2013 \u201cmore\u201d because, as created in God\u2019s image, we are able to exercise our will freely. In our Christian understanding, we can love everyone because love is not about feelings but about deciding to love and acting inspired by choosing the good of others. Those who do bad things to us create our natural desire to pay back. Christ tells us that we can do more by overcoming the chain of evil through goodness and mildness or, at least, not reacting with evil to whatever happens. This is how we can \u201cact against\u201d evil in our daily life, and become more and more perfect like God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u0141ukasz Go\u0142\u0105b<\/strong> \u2013 Seminary of the Good Shepherd, Sydney, Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 7th Sunday of the Ordinary Time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-strona-glowna-najnowsze","category-strona-glowna-slider"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n