“ Ye have heard that it hath been said, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.’ But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; Matt 5:43-44 (KJV)
WHAT KIND OF LOVE?
According to the Gospel, we should love Putin and the Russian soldiers who commit war crimes, the Catholic politicians who push pro-abortion policies, and the Main Stream Media pundits who praise their efforts. Or maybe not?.
Let’s consider what “love” means in the context of the quote. Going to the Greek New Testament, we find “thou shalt love” = “ Ἀγαπήσεις” and “Love” = “ἀγαπᾶτε.” This kind of love is “agape,” which is the highest form of love, as C.S. Lewis explained in his “Four Loves.” It is more than affection, friendship or romantic love. It corresponds to the Latin translation, “caritas,” or charity, as in 1 Corinthians 13:13
“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
HOW TO LOVE OUR ENEMIES
So, how then should we “ἀγαπᾶτε” our enemies? Here’s an example: Fr. Bernard Groeschel’s prayer for Madonna, that she be converted and go to a secluded nunnery. We do not have to like or respect our enemies, but we do have to pray for the best that can happen to them, their conversion. In wishing that they change their ways, we offer love as an act of will. Such love does not yield the warm fuzzies that the other three forms do, but it is akin to the unconditional love that Christ has for us. This is the Divine Mercy love shown in St. Faustina’s painting. Christ loves the Pharisees, even though he knows their sins:
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” Matt 23:27 (KJV)
FIGHT THE ENEMY
Now, The Enemy tempts us to not follow the Gospel. The great sin of the left is not that they hate, they corrupt, they lie, they abuse, they traduce, they pervert, they abort, they philander, they euthanize. It is rather, that by their sins they push us into the arms of The Enemy. Their actions are so foul that they move us to forget what Christ told us: Love your enemies and bless them that curse you.
And our blessings should be sincere. Hard though it is to do, each evening in the intercessions I offer at Zoom rosary meetings I pray for the conversion of my enemies. and that they and I follow Christ’s teaching.
NOTE
*This article was originally published in The American Catholic, 23rd March, 2022.
24 thoughts on “Love Your Enemies? It’s Hard!*”
Pingback: A 40 Days for Life Experience and the Faith Journey - Catholic Stand
Pingback: Bits & Bytes |
Anyone who would use the moniker “Ordinary Papist” ought not to speak of sincerity. Now self-absorption, egotism, yes. Apparently, my comments must have struck close to home. I’ll pray for you as well OP.
The word “liberal,” in its truest sense, has no application to Progressives. Which is who the real left is made up of. Progressivism is merely a different manifestation of Socialism/Communisim. Progressives, like their brethren Communists, not only fail to show agape love to their enemies or forgive those who offend them, but rather are most often in the business of creating enemies of their neighbors, a la Putin. This is what cancel culture here and throughout the world is all about, purely a creation of the left. This creating of enemies is the foundation of CRT, and gender ideology.
The NYT is hardly a source to illustrate the generosity of a charitable spirit. The promoter of so much spew. A rarity today that anything it posts is anything less than propaganda for the new DNC, haters to the enth degree of all that is decent and good, and normal. And when the NYT expresses an affectionate love for world leaders, typically, it showers praise on authoritarian figures or those with an authoritarian bent, as is found in the present day DNC.
The Progressive left not only promulgates hate, but is self-hating. Why it is that the current SCOTUS nominee cannot find it in HERself to define “woman,” and when a baby in the womb feels pain. Progressives are self-hating because they not only believe in but celebrate the killing of their babies, and choose not to recognize the biological difference between male and female. Self-hating because they despise the nation which gave it the freedom to hate its neighbors as it so aptly and openly does.
Of course, sadly, this is a kind of self-delusion and self-loathing that speaks of a mental illness. So, I pray for their healing. I pray that they will turn back to God. I pray that I may have the love for them that Dr. Kurland addresses in his reflection, knowing that my thoughts here will, no doubt, receive a harsh rebuke from those for whom I pray.
I pray that I may have the love for them that Dr. Kurland addresses in his reflection …
And until that happens I would refrain from thinking that you could pray with anything close to sincerity.
This reminds me of the heroic forgiveness shown by an Amish elder who IMMEDIATELY visited the newly widowed wife of a man who had only hours earlier attempted to molest a schoolroom of Amish girls before he killed them and himself. It really challenged me to question if I was really offering forgiveness to others.
Should we also pray that President Zaleski surrenders without shedding any more Russian
blood ?
Right on, Bob! St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that love is willing the good of the other. Willing the greatest good of someone is willing that they come to union with God, which can mean a conversion, reversion or deeper conversion. Thanks for this article.
I believe the Lord taught me some years ago how to deal with a troublesome person in the workplace. He taught me to simply, on my way to work to pray that the Lord bless that person. Also I must avoid the temptation to tell the Lord HOW to bless that person. I believe this can apply to “loving” our enemies. Simply pray that the Lord bless them, be it Putin, Biden, or Trump or anyone else, take your pick. God knows what “blessing” is needed. Leave that to Him.
I don’t pray that CAPTCRISIS learns to think and express him/herself in a clear, concise and logical manner. It just might not be possible, given the obtuse nature of the comments ascribed to him/her. I do pray that God will have mercy on his/her soul and that he/she will accept that mercy and learn to live according to God’s will.
Pingback: VVEEKEND EDITION – Big Pulpit
Abp. Vigano, apparently, is of the mindset that, perhaps, Putin is not quite the war criminal that he is being made out to be. Our beloved media spun us all a lot of tales with coronavirus and who is to say they are not doing the same, again. There are many who are of the belief that Western (NATO) policy is what prompted him to act as he has; which may very well be the case; that the war mongers of the west are enticing this.
TS, the bombing and killing of innocent civilians is evidence of Putin’s guilt, and that is not something that the media has fabricated.
Thank you, TS. This is so true. It is always prudent to look at both sides before making decisions. There is a whole other side to this story but it seems censorship has become the rule so you have to look beyond the main stream media to find it. Creating confusion is a powerful tool, combined with censorship, its dangerous.
Thank you for writing about that problematic word (love). This very topic jumped out at me from the Sunday Gospel reading a few weeks back (Luke 6:32-38). Verse 35 struck me where it states that the Father is kind even to the wicked and the ungrateful. That’s the crux of Christianity: acting with charity toward all people without prejudice instead of acting how the world often encourages us to. The difficulty is in knowing what is proper charity to a specific person in a specific situation at a specific time in this complex world. We also are to be kind to the wicked and ungrateful, but doing the kind thing isn’t always the nice thing, such as when the world is a violent and deceitful place. I guess our current goings on are just another opportunity to practice.
Agape love is a fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23 and 1Corinthians 13). It starts out as an inner quality; and then it is expressed outwardly. This means that we need to have it even before we pray for anyone. It is a quality of the heart; and is prior to any kind of conscious emotional love. It is a fruit that results from entrustment directly to Christ. This is why peace and strength from God are associated with it and make it possible.
“It starts out as an inner quality; and then it is expressed outwardly. This means that we need to have it even before we pray for anyone.”
And one MUST be in a state of grace before they can pray for anyone other than themselves. Mortal sin cuts us off from God, from the lifeblood of the Church. When we have cut ourselves off, we are dead and that wound must be healed through confession before our prayers (for anyone else) can be heard.
“Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds”.
What you are doing is not “love”.
Thanks for the comment CaptCrisis. Evidently you’re following Humpty-Dumpty’s criterion for defintions:
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean-neither more nor less.” (Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
Unfortunately, many others, including C.S. Lewis, disagree with your definition. But I still love you, in the “agape” sense.
Applying love to a situation does not mean praying for your “enemies” to come over to your side. Perhaps you are likening it to disciplining your child so that they straighten out, but you cannot arrogate to yourself the role of parent.
Applying love means, for one thing, listening and trying to understand where your “enemies” — “the Left” — are coming from. Such an approach is noticeably lacking on this site.
True prayer is openness to change. Can you take that plunge?
CC, it’s evident you don’t understand the article or what CS Lewis said about love. You pray for conversion of your enemies, so that they don’t go to Hell.
If you’re a clean addict, you pray for your friend, or son, or by thwife, to get rid of the habit. You pray for what is best for your enemy. That’s the point that you seem to miss. Let me add, it would be wonderful if those on the left did for conservatives, right-to-life advocates, etc., as you would have “conservatives” do for you.
E Waybob,
That’s still not “loving your enemies”. Jesus did not place the condition on it that you are placing.
There is no shortage of liberals trying to understand conservatives. I could give you a list, just from the New York Times database, of sensitively written articles with nonjudgmentally presented interviews of “red state” voters.
Articles from conservatives trying to understand liberals are very rare.
CC, please do give me that list, and corresponding lists from the speeches of the squad, BLM advocates, Chief Operating Officer Biden, Speaker Pelosi. And I’ll add another quote from Scripture: “first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” (Matt 7:5)
It’s not hard to love your enemies–it is VERY, VERY, VERY HARD. Do it anyway!