Be holy is the simple message of today's readings.

American Catholics raised in a Horatio Alger, pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps culture where independence is favored over all else may have a hard time accepting Jesus' directive that we give to those who ask of us and lend to those who want to borrow from us.

AS CHILDREN MOST of us believed in perfection as an attainable goal. Maybe not our own particular perfection (I was never going to get an A in science!), but the finish line was clearly marked out and someone was going to cross it.

A TRUCK DRIVER, in a hurry, pulled into a parking spot, jumped out of his car, and ran into a store. A moment later another driver came out of the store, and when she got to her car, she saw that she couldn't open the driver door because the truck had parked too close to her car.

One of the more famous embodiments of the message behind today's gospel reading is Mahatma Gandhi's nonviolent resistance.

We ask God to make us temples of the Holy Spirit.

When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well. The English author Oscar Wilde once said, "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."

Teach us to give and not to count the cost.