"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you."
(Luke 6: 27-28)

Loving our enemies is an enormous demand, but if we do so we will see the world around us and within us change radically. We will be filled with floods of joy!

'Love your enemies.' This really is a powerful thing to say. This really is something that completely overturns our way of thinking, making us switch direction in our lives. Let's face it. We all have some enemies of one kind or another.

My enemy may be next door, in that unpleasant, meddlesome woman I try to avoid meeting in the lift. My enemy could be that relative who mistreated my father 30 years ago and whom I've not spoken to since. It could be that classmate you've refused to look at ever since he got you into trouble with the teacher. It could be the girlfriend who dropped you to go out with someone else.

It could be the salesman who cheated you. Our enemies are those in politics who don't see things as we do. Just as there are those, and they always exist, who see the clergy as enemies and hate the Church.

Well then, all of these, and many, many others we call enemies, are to be loved.

Loved? Yes. They are to be loved! And don't think it's enough merely to change the feeling of hatred into something kinder. We have to do much more than that. Listen to what Jesus says.

"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you."
Do you see? Jesus wants us to overcome evil with good. He wants a love that is turned into action. We find ourselves asking: why does Jesus give such a command? The fact is he wants to model our conduct on that of God, his Father, who 'makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous'. (Matt. 5: 45)

This is the point. We are not alone in the world: we have a Father and we should be like him. Not only this, but God has the right to make such a demand because while we were his enemies, while we were still in darkness, he first loved us by sending us his Son who died in such a terrible way for each one of us.

"Love your enemies... pray for those who abuse you."

Elizabeth, a young girl from Florence, was climbing the steps of a church to go to Mass when a group of youngsters her own age started to make fun of her. It really upset her. She wanted to react, but instead she smiled, went into church and prayed very much for them. As she was leaving, they came up and asked her why she had behaved like that. She explained that she was a Christian and so she had to love all the time. She said this with great conviction. Her witness bore fruit. When she got to church next Sunday the very same group was sitting attentively in the first pew. This is how children take God's word seriously. This is why they are big in his eyes. Perhaps we too should take steps to remedy certain situations in our own lives, all the more so since we will be judged by the way we judge others. We are the ones who give God the measure by which he will measure us. (Matt. 7: 2)

Don't we often pray, 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us'? So let's love our enemies. Only by doing this can we heal disunity, break down barriers and build the Christian community.

Is it difficult? Painful? Does the mere thought of it keep us awake at night? Take courage. It is not the end of the world after all. It takes just a little effort on our part, and then God will do the remaining 99 per cent... and in our hearts there will be a flood of joy.

(Extracts from the writings of Chiara Lubich)