Love your enemy:

...Hatred satisfies something in and orphan and stranger...

...This is not to excuse the enemy, the innocent victim, cherish the image of this way-to be generous to those who any more than we should excuse a child myself as the suffering servant...

...When Jesus calls upon us to "be perIn the Old Testament the fact that the fect, as your Father in heaven is perfect," test of one's real standing before the Lord he calls upon us to be realistic...

...The other forms of love are the but because he was poor, and because of unrealistic and sentimental ones...

...We do not love the enemy because if bigots and murderers and warlords and ing it at that, as if this were the end of the we do so the enemy may be changed or bloody-handed politicians with the scorn story: "Jesus was crucified, and that was converted, although he or she may be (or and rage that, at one level they seem to so wrong, proof of a terrible world in which richly deserve...

...But this love is not the role of the victim, the one who does phan and stranger...

...We are not noble than a passionate, and maybe violeads to grief, as the headlines show us only meant to be generous to the widow lent, refusal of injustice...

...self or (worse) to others, in the name of At the same time, the hatred of enemies, Not only are we to refrain from killing...

...God will love us, does love us, or we would BUT DON'T EXPECT A PROFIT not exist...

...perfect...

...not to commit adultery...

...we must love our There is this danger, of course...

...To love the enemy brings us into Christianity is that we must politician or a wealthy man or an influ- the relationship God has with us, because love our enemies, do good ential judge, I can almost certainly count it refuses to say that anything other than to those who hate us, pray on having the favor repaid...

...And isn't there a danger that "love" here not really look like sensible advice, be- The injunction to love the enemy is very can become a kind of sentimental and at cause there is no future in it, no immedi- much in keeping with Jesus' extension of the same time bloodless indifference, a ate indication that this will get us anything the meaning of the law...

...something which only appears to be more the cherishing of ancient grievances, also we are to refrain from anger...

...It is likely to be as evil as we are-rather on an appalling thought to consider this: I love the fact that they are able to do nothing truly only insofar as I love the person who for us...

...it...

...This is true despite everything we may have done to contradict or deny the relationship...

...They exist, as we do, only the innocent suffer...

...To seek satisfaction in do nothing for us, like the widow and or- ting something at risk...

...Better a can't possibly help us, to love people who of ours who has made a disastrous choice...

...Nothing we can do will The most radical injunction in If I do something nice for a prominent change it...

...we are called to love the enemy OF SEVERAL MINDS John Garvey because we are made in God's image, meant to be like God, and by loving the enemy we stand in relation to the enemy LOVE YOUR ENEMY the way God stands in relation to us...

...any real us, however, that is not satisfied by lov- enemies, partly because they can and will attempt to love involves danger, and puting the persecutor...

...It means trygood to those who hate, is rightly seen as This makes no sense, from the point of ing to understand the enemy as one a disgusting thing: I will enjoy the role of view of our advantage...

...It means that we may not regard the stepping into the victim's role and leav- us...

...Lazarus the poor man, in Luke's annoys or infuriates me most...

...that is, we are meant to become quences which show us how far we fall There is nothing biblical about simply to one another and to God what God is to short...

...This is the was kindness to widows and orphans and shock: we can see the enemy clearly only strangers was not based on the virtue of when we see the enemy with love...

...the point of the Christian story...

...passive, not mere acceptance...

...not having it repaid if I do it for someone It looks good on paper...

...we are not to lust...

...And if that he should have been helped by the rich the struggle to love as God loves involves man, who-because of his inattention- great ascetic effort, prayer, and repenis in torment...

...every day...

...D 10: 19 November 1993 Commonweal...

...I can count on love will be the basis of our relationship...

...We are told to act beloved...

...genuine clarity...

...Not only are we willingness to suffer any outrage to onebut grief...

...then those who were most helpless-they are we "know, as now we are known...

...Any other Gospel, did not find himself in Abraham's form of love falls short of the love God bosom after death because he was good calls us to...

...The point here is the rela- tance, it simply shows how far we are, in tionship itself, not the private virtues our ordinary waking consciousness, from practiced (or not practiced) by either party...

...healthy hatred than what seems to be a form seek to harm us-because we are called But it does mean an effort at active, genof pious masochism: "Hit me again, it's to "be perfect as your heavenly Father is uine love...

...How do you do We are caught in a world in which this does poor and helpless...

...for those who persecute us...

...And this has practical consegood for me, and I get to forgive you...

...That isn't the end of because of the love God has for them...