Our enemies are those who hate us and seek to do us harm. Before he was converted and became the Apostle Paul, he was Saul - an enemy of the Christians; he persecuted them. But he who loves his enemy is like the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen, who gave us a striking example of love for enemies. When his enemies were stoning him to death, instead of wishing them ill, he prayed: "Lord, do not lay this sin against them" (Acts 7:60). He was called "a man full of the Holy Spirit."

    We must love our enemies because Christ commands it. Christ says: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and calumniate you" (Matthew 5:44). "If you do not forgive, neither will your Father in Heaven forgive you" (Mark 11:26).

    We must love our enemies for the same reasons and in the same manner we love our neighbor; for enemies as well as friends are our neighbors. Christ has given us the supreme example. Our Heavenly Father Himself gives us the example, for He makes the sun to shine on the just and the unjust alike. From the cross, Our Lord prayed for His enemies: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).

    He who loves his enemy for God's sake is like God: he is like his Father in Heaven (cf. Matthew 5:45). He follows the example of Christ, Who prayed and died for His enemies. He is like the saints, who have always loved their enemies, for the love of God. "For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you also should do" (John 13:15). "He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life" (John 3: 14-15).

    We ask God to forgive us. In the Lord's Prayer we say: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Thus we ask God to treat us as we treat our enemies. If we do not forgive them, He will not forgive us. "If you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offenses" (Matthew 6:15). Can anything be clearer than these words of Our Lord?

    We show love for our enemies in many ways. We should not take revenge on them. When Our Lord was reviled, He did not revile. Vengeance belongs to God, not to us. "Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to the wrath, for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine: I will repay, says the Lord'" (Romans 12:19).

    Once a Samaritan village would not receive Jesus because He was a Jew. The Apostles becoming angry wished to call down fire from heaven. But Our Lord rebuked them, saying: "You do not know of what manner of spirit you are" (Luke 9:55). "And to him that strikes thee on the one cheek, offer the other also" (Luke 6:29).

    We should return good for evil, avenging ourselves in God's way, by doing good to those that hate us. If we do good to our enemy instead of avenging ourselves, we put him to shame, and pacify him. "If thy enemy is hungry, given him food; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing, thou wilt heap coals of fire upon his head" (Romans 12: 20). "We are reviled, and we bless; we are persecuted, and we bear with it" (1 Corinthians 4:12).

Next Issue: Love of our Enemies part two

July 21-23, 2000
volume 11, no. 124
APPRECIATION OF THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF OUR FAITH series

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