Love Your Enemy
As hard as it may seem to comprehend and live out in our lives, Christ’s words to us are crystal clear when he elevates the Old Covenant’s moral standards in the New Covenant:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others?”—Matthew 5:43-47 (RSVCE)
Christ set this example for us, after he was bloodied from head to toe and nailed to a cross:
And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”—Luke 23:33-34 (RSVCE)
By loving our enemies, we are loving them, not the evil they do to us or others.
How to Pray For Your Enemies
Father David Nix has an insightful article on the topic of praying for your enemies: Pilgrim Priest: How to Pray For Your Enemies
