Jesus calls us to love our enemies by responding to an offense with love.
- We have all suffered injuries – often from the people we love.
- G.K. Chesterton joked, “Jesus told us to love both our neighbor and our enemy because these are generally the same person”
Whether it is someone we love or not, many of us want our offenders to apologized before we can consider forgiving them. Until then, we are determined to hold a grudge or even look for ways to get back at them.
- We know that reactions like these are beneath us.
- Loving our enemy means going beyond our natural drives towards revenge or self-pity when a person insults us or hurts us in some way.
St. Ignatius of Loyola was robbed of all his savings. When the thief became ill, Ignatius walked nearly one hundred miles to nurse the man back to help.
- From a human perspective, this may seem extreme.
- In his mind, Ignatius was only obeying Jesus’ command to love his enemy.
Re-source: Reconsider
consider (something) again, especially for a possible change of decision regarding it
Ask the Spirit to give you a share in his love, generosity, and mercy.
- Pray, “Holy Spirit, help me to see my ‘enemy’ as you do.”
- This does not mean excusing that person’s actions or pretending that they didn’t really hurt you.
- It means acknowledging the pain, trying to hand it over to Jesus, and making the attempt – even if it is small at first – to treat that person with respect and love.
Jesus isn’t asking you to convince yourself that your “enemy” is innocent. He simply says, “Love” (Mathew 5:44)
- He asks us to live as he did, and that’s not always easy.
- “Holy Spirit, help me to love my enemies.”
craving and resources from “The WORD Among Us” – Daily Meditations
