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BY JOCELYN SORIANO
One of the hardest things we’d ever learn from Christ is to love our enemies. It’s hard enough to love your neighbor. We even fail in loving the people closest to our hearts. How do we even start loving the people who have hurt us or the ones we love?
“But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” – Luke 6:27-28 (NABRE)
Where do we even begin to find the motivation to love our enemies?
Even St. Faustina, the modern saint entrusted by Jesus Himself to preach the message of His Divine Mercy found it difficult to do so. Here is an excerpt of her dialogue with Jesus as recorded in her diary (Divine Mercy In My Soul):
It should be of no concern to you how anyone else acts; you are to be My living reflection, through love and mercy. I answered, “Lord, but they often take advantage of my goodness.” That makes no difference, My daughter. That is no concern of yours. As for you, be always merciful toward other people, and especially toward sinners.
What a hard teaching! Even for people who take advantage of your goodness, you are still urged to show them mercy.
But mercy for what? Why would you be merciful to sinners?
Here are some of the reasons we can reflect upon as we try to find mercy for our enemies:
1. Mercy for their current suffering
It may not be evident to you now, but when you look more closely at the lives of your enemies, you would discover that even they have much suffering to bear.
Even if you think you know the person well, you can’t quite read everything in their hearts.
Those people could be carrying painful wounds from the past. They may have been hurt badly, abandoned by the very people who should have cared for them the most.
How terrible is it to live a life that is far from the love of God?