Love Your Enemies

Love Your Enemies

By Vince Marie Cuison

Today’s Gospel passage contains, in my opinion, one of the reasons why being a Christian is not for the faint of heart. For in this passage from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples to “love your enemies” and to “pray for those who persecute you.” Given the recent events that have happened in our country and around the world, it seems almost impossible to follow this command from the Lord.

How can you love government leaders who spew hateful rhetoric, start wars, sow division, and enact policies that endanger the lives of so many people? How can you love law enforcement officials who abuse their power and terrorize communities? How can you love those who have sexually abused, raped, and/or trafficked women and children? How can you love those who have committed murder? How can you love those who deem you as subhuman just because your skin tone is darker than theirs or have an accent that they don’t have? The list goes on and on.

I believe this is where humility comes in. Humility is one of the Seven Lively Virtues that counteracts Pride, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Unlike pride, humility reminds us that just as God loves us despite our sins and weaknesses, we should also love others, especially our enemies, in the same way. For just like us, our enemies have inherent dignity and worth because God made them in His likeness and image. This does not mean, however, that we should condone and tolerate the evil acts committed by our enemies. As the saying goes, we must “hate the sin, not the sinner.” Our enemies should face the consequences of their actions, but not through the lens of vengeance. It should be through the lens of justice, forgiveness, and a desire for their conversion.

This year, I am praying the Litany of Humility daily as part of my Lenten prayer practice. I hope this Lent you will join me in praying this litany and ask God for the grace to grow in humility. St. Thomas Aquinas says that “to love is to will the good of the other,” and I believe that in order to love in this way, we must come to the Lord in humility and ask the Holy Spirit to show us how to love our enemies the way God does. To see our enemies the way God does. To show mercy and forgiveness to our enemies the way God does.

At the end of the Gospel passage, Jesus asks us to “be perfect, just as [our] heavenly Father is perfect.” How do we become perfect then? Through humility, for humility reminds us of how we constantly need God to show us how to be more like Him. May this Lent help us walk humbly with God and allow us to open our hearts so deeply that we love our enemies the way He does.

Vince Marie Cuison is a writer, singer, and musician based in Queens, NY and Roseville, CA. You can find more about her here.

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