Loving Our Enemies...or at Least Trying

     Without question, the part of Jesus' teaching that I find the hardest to follow faithfully is his instructions regarding the need for a sincere love of those who hurt and do evil upon us. When someone insults me or a supposed friend forsakes me, the immediate urge I have, as I suspect most people do, is to seek revenge of some kind. We may hurl an insult back at them, or gloat the next time our former friend finds trouble in his or her life. These types of Hammurabic reactions feel good because they satisfy an immediate desire we have for justice. While our Catholic values may tell us that God will hand out ultimate justice to unrepentant souls at the end of time, we'd much rather take care of the matter ourself, here and now.
   
     In His "Sermon on the Mount", however, Jesus reminds us that there is no place for such retribution among God's children:

"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? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Mt 5:43-48)

     God has not called us to mete out punishments. He does that task without error himself. Rather, He calls us to imitate His Son, who was abandoned and betrayed, flogged and scourged, mocked and spat upon, crucified and pierced. Through all this suffering he never offered opposition. Rather, he prayed that the Father would grant pardon to His tormenters. A deacon I know loves to point out how Jesus' philosophy makes Him the world's most radical moral teacher ever. Nobody before or since has taught such a sacrificial treatment towards others as Christ.

     Needless to say, the teachings Jesus gives us are more easily written about than lived out in reality. Often, I find myself lashing out at others without even thinking, but there are other times when I have time to choose forgiveness yet decide instead to seek revenge. In the end, revenge always leaves us feeling empty because it lowers us down to the level of our enemy. That is why Jesus calls us to forgive, so that we can be raised up to the Father by placing our trust in Him as the sole arbiter of justice.