Glory to Jesus Christ.

• Today we face a common temptation in our culture that the Fathers would recognize as moral agnosticism. It sounds like this: be nice, avoid conflict, and do whatever is convenient as long as it does not hurt anyone.
• Christ calls us to something far deeper. We do good not because it is convenient or socially useful, but because we belong to God and are made in His image and likeness.

The Image and Likeness

• Scripture reveals that every person you meet bears the royal imprint of the Creator. This is not a poetic flourish. It is the ground of Christian ethics.
• We forgive because God forgives. We serve because the Son of Man came to serve. We love enemies because Christ loved us when we were His enemies.
• The baptismal life declares this dignity. In baptism we are sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit and restored to the path of likeness through life in Christ.

Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High.

Why Doing Good Matters

• Modern messages often urge us to be agreeable so the system runs smoothly. Christ teaches us to be holy so the Kingdom may be revealed.
• Good works are an offering to God. They are not a strategy to avoid trouble. They are a witness that Jesus Christ is Lord.
• When we forget this, we start measuring love by convenience and mercy by mood. The result is thin compassion that collapses when it costs us something.

Seeing Others as Icons

• Imagine the neighbor who irritates you, the relative who grieves you, the public figure who angers you. The Gospel asks you to see first what God sees. An icon. A person stamped with the same dignity that you claim for yourself.
• This vision does not excuse sin. It clarifies our task. We confront evil with good. We answer curses with blessing. We pray for those who persecute, so that healing may begin.

If you want peace around you, begin with peace within you. Acquire the peace of Christ and many around you will be saved.

Overcoming Moral Agnosticism

• Christ does not say, avoid harm and everything will be fine. He says, take up your cross and follow Me.
• Life in Christ is not neutrality. It is participation in divine life. The Church calls this synergy, our free cooperation with grace.
• Therefore our choices must be shaped by prayer, obedience, and love. Not by convenience or crowd approval.

Practical Steps This Week

1. Choose one person who troubles you and pray daily, God, bless them with Your mercy. Heal what I cannot see. Guard my heart from resentment.
2. Make a deliberate act of mercy for someone who cannot repay you. Offer your time, attention, or resources quietly for the sake of Christ.
3. Practice forgiving on purpose. Name before God those you have not forgiven and say, By Your Cross and Resurrection, I forgive as I have been forgiven.
4. Remember the image. When anger rises, say within, This person bears the image of God, as I do. Lord, have mercy on us both.
5. Confess and commune. Bring resentments to confession and receive the Eucharist as the medicine of immortality.

What Love of Enemies Is Not

• It is not approval of sin. The Fathers distinguish between persons who are to be loved and sins which are to be rejected.
• It is not passivity. Christian love is active. It speaks truth with humility, protects the weak, and endures wrong without hatred.
• It is not a feeling. Love is a cruciform decision backed by prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and faithful endurance.

Community Witness

• Parish growth follows holiness. People notice when Christians forgive sincerely, serve cheerfully, and endure patiently.
• When we treat each person as an icon, the Spirit opens doors we could not force open with arguments.
• The Gospel shines most clearly when we love those who do not love us back.

Closing Exhortation

• See the image of God in every face you meet.
• Do good because you love Christ who first loved you.
• Pray for enemies and hope for their salvation as you hope for your own.

Glory to God for all things. Amen.