Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Gospel is challenging. Jesus said to his disciples, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:44). It’s not hard to find enemies. We only have to read the news to find out which countries and groups are at war with each other and people who are blamed for society’s problems. We can examine our lives and see who we disagree with and which people we dislike. Jesus asks us to love all of them. I believe that he is teaching us some lessons about discipleship in this Gospel passage.
First, while Jesus says to love our enemies, he doesn’t say not to have them. In life, we inevitably encounter people who are different from us, disagree with us, and whom we don’t like. I’m reminded of the System of Virtues in the Marianist tradition. The System of Virtues was developed by Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, Founder of the Marianists, as a way to be more like Jesus Christ. Two aspects of it which are helpful in our reflection on loving our enemies are the Silence of Passions and the Silence of Imagination. Awareness of one’s feelings is part of the Silence of Passions. From this awareness, we can discern how our emotions impact our actions and choose to act in a loving not hateful way. Silence of the Imagination allows us to use our imagination for the good of others and God and to quiet our imaginings that are destructive. We can dream about what is possible and see new situations and people in a new light. In the case of loving our enemies, it’s important to see their humanity and that they are more like us than we realize. We’re their enemy too after all. What Thomas Merton wrote about enemies is insightful:
Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy because he thinks you are a savage, or perhaps he is afraid of you because he feels that you are afraid of him. If he believed you are capable of loving him, perhaps he would no longer be your enemy.*
In addition, I find this part of the Gospel reading interesting, “For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same?” (Matthew 5:46-47). At that time, tax collectors were seen as sinful, so people discouraged Jesus to associate with them. The pagans Jesus referred to in this passage neither followed Judaism nor have heard Jesus’ message. Therefore, if we do not love our enemies, it would be as if Jesus Christ never came into our lives.
The last sentence in this Gospel passage is intriguing, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect,” (Matthew 5:48). It’s interesting that it’s put at the end of this reading. When I think about perfection, I think about not making mistakes. However, in light of what we’ve read, that doesn’t seem to be what perfection to God is. Being perfect appears to be more about what we do when others make mistakes than our own errors. Perfection is in mercy for our enemies rather than counting their (and our) wrongdoings.
May you have the grace and compassion to love your enemies.
—Sr. Emily Sandoval, FMI
*Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation (Norfolk, CT: New Directions, 1949) quoted in Mary Snyder, “Love Your Enemy: A Reflection on the Silence of Passion” (North American Center for Marianist Studies).