Eleventh Tuesday of Ordinary Time

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

It’s easy to love those we like, but much more difficult to love those whom we dislike. However, Jesus asks us to love our enemies as well as our friends because He loves them in spite of all their faults just as He loves us even though we are sinners, too. He does not ask us to condone what our enemies have done to others and to us, but rather that we love and pray for them. This requires a great deal of humility on our part. We have to put aside the part of us that feels wronged by our enemies and better than them. Only by doing this can we truly be children of our Heavenly Father, shining the light of our love on all, friend and foe alike.

Do we really love our enemies? Do we pray for them? How can we build up the habit of loving those we dislike?

O Lord, help us love our enemies and pray for them.

Amen.