LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

PRAYER MOMENT                      

Thursday 11 September 2014.

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: “If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners lend to get back the same amount. Instead, love your enemies and do good. And lend without any hope of return.” (Luke 6:27-38)

Reflection. The call to ‘love your enemies’ is one of those ‘hard’ sayings in the gospel, like ‘turning the other cheek.’ In an unreflective life, in a life which reacts instinctively without thinking, it makes no sense. Yet, to ‘love your enemies’ is to halt the spiral of violence when a person reacts to violence with more violence, leading to yet more violence  and so it goes on. To interrupt this cycle of violence with love is to wrench the situation on to a whole new level. Suddenly the atmosphere changes as it did in Jesus’ passion when he refused to react and thus caused confusion among his accusers. Further, this reaction of love calls for a proactive, not a reactive, way of responding. What I mean is, it calls for me to be in charge of my own response. I don’t just respond predictably to a situation. I create a new situation. Jesus was ‘supposed to’ ignore Zacchaeus (Luke 19) as one of those oppressive tax collectors. But he didn’t. He made the first move towards Zaccheus and looked at him with love. It changed Zacchaeus’ whole life.  

   

Prayer. Lord Jesus, help us to respond with love and patience when we are provoked.. Amen.

David Harold-Barry SJ