Why do we have to love even our enemies

WHY? Because, first of all, Christ said so. In no unclear terms, he said: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” (Mt 5,43-45) 

 And he walked his talk by being always compassionate with the sinners of his time. And ultimately, while still on the cross, just a few breaths away from death, he offered forgiveness to those who crucified him, who in the end, are actually all of us. (cfr. Lk 23,34) That’s because every sin we commit contributes to Christ’s crucifixion. 

 But we may still ask, why should we love our enemies? Isn’t it against our nature? I believe the final answer to that is because in spite of how we are to each other and to God himself, we still are all children of God, brothers and sisters among ourselves, meant to care and love one another. 

 Irrespective of how we behave and develop our life, that basic truth cannot be erased. It’s a truth of our faith that was hinted in the following passage from the Book of Isaiah that says, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” (49,15) 

 Of course, this does not mean that what is wrong is right. The sharp distinction between the two is never denied by the love that we are asked to have. Rather, because of that love, we still should try to uphold that distinction as best that we can. 

 Yes, we should try our best to clarify the issues, but knowing how imperfect we are even in our best conditions, we should just go beyond that distinction, and offer forgiveness the way Christ did so on the cross. Christ did everything to clarify what is right, but in the end, he sort of “failed” and had no other recourse than to offer his life as the ultimate testament of his love for us. 

 This is, of course, a tall order, an impossible thing for us to follow. But we should just try and try, never giving up. We obviously have to exert all the effort we can give, but first of all, we should ask for the grace of God, since only in that way can the impossible be made possible for us. 

 Let’s try to develop a lifestyle where in spite of our unavoidable differences and conflicts we can manage to have no enemies, since we would love everyone. More than that, it should be a lifestyle where the more unlovable a person in the natural level is given more love. That’s when we can truly say that we are entering the supernatural level of God which is actually meant for us. 

 This, of course, would require a lot of faith and hope for the charity meant for us to blossom. It should be a faith that should lead us to develop a certain toughness that can bear all things, as St. Paul once said. (cfr. 1 Cor 13,7) 

 Everyday, let’s hope that we can manage to love everyone, especially those who clearly are in error. These people can be considered as “one of the least of my brethren” as Christ once said, (cfr. Mt 25,40) to whom we should give a completely gratuitous love. For such is true love. It is completely gratuitous, expecting no reward nor compensation.

Our need for accompaniment and continuing conversion

WE have to be more aware of this crying need. More than that, we have to come up with plans and strategies that would effectively address this need whose neglect has spawned a lot of scandals even among supposedly “good” people like the clergy and other religious leaders. 

 We cannot deny that even if we can consider ourselves as already quite mature, so gifted with impressive personal qualities that would make us believe that we can easily tackle the different challenges and trials we meet in life, we actually continue to have weaknesses that can act up in some hidden way. 

 We should never forget that despite our spiritual and moral strength, we will always have the so-called “feet of clay” (cfr. Daniel 2,33) which means that our earthly and human powers are actually unstable. Just a little disturbance of a temptation, falling into sin would just be a matter of time. 

 Besides, we have been warned that even a just man can fall seven times in a day. (cfr. Prov 24,16) St. Paul also said that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 6,12) 

 And given the new challenges posed by the new developments around, like the Internet where good and evil play absorbing albeit confusing games, we cannot deny that our weaknesses, while dormant so far, can start to stir up and dominate us. 

 What can make things worse is when we would just keep our struggles and falls in secret. That’s when we would put ourselves in some hidden bondage. These cases of secret or hidden bondage can arise in the area of our human weaknesses. Thus, people can have this enslavement to pornography and sex, to drinks and drugs, or worse, to some evil spirits who can appear to them, as St. Paul warned us, as an angel of light. (cfr. 2 Cor 11,14) 

 In cases like this, the most important thing to do is to pray hard, offer a lot of sacrifices, and then open up with someone who can help those affected spiritually and morally. And if needed, some professional help from psychologists or psychiatrists who have good human and Christian formation may be availed of. 

 This is when we really wound need accompaniment and conversion. Accompaniment should be exercised in the higher and more important aspects of our life—mental, psychological, moral and spiritual, etc. In these aspects, we can never say that our need for it would already be fully satisfied. In fact, the older we get, the more experienced and accomplished we are in our life, the more would be our need for accompaniment. 

 And that’s simply because the challenges and trials we face as we get older and more accomplished become more subtle and complicated. And we always need the help of others to face them. Woe to us if we are left only to ourselves to face all of the challenges and trials in life. 

 We have to realize that that we need to be accompanied always by others as well as to accompany others. We should be both sheep and shepherd. There’s both an active and passive side of this need of ours for accompaniment. If we do not feel that need yet, then it is about time that we develop an abiding sense of that need.

Daily renewals

GIVEN the way we are in this world, marked as it is with frequent inconsistencies and infidelities, we need to see to it that this business of making daily renewals of our commitments to God and to everybody else should be taken up seriously. 

 For this, we have to be clear about what the real purpose of our life is, how we can relate everything in our day to this ultimate purpose of ours. But first of all, we should know what making these daily renewals is all about. 

 In the gospel, we can hear Christ saying: “My sheep hear my voice; and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them life everlasting; and they shall not perish forever, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand.” (Jn 10,27-28) 

 That, in a nutshell, is the ideal condition for us to be in. It’s when we can abidingly hear Christ’s voice and follow him. We should be wary of our strong tendency to hear and be guided only by ourselves and by some worldly standards. We really need to humble ourselves so that we can let Christ’s voice to be heard and followed by us. 

 Right at the beginning of the day, we should already direct and set our mind and heart on Christ, promising to offer everything to him, to do things with and for him, and to know him more and more by going through certain practices of prayer, spiritual reading and theological study, and other acts of piety. 

 Besides those, we should make it an organic part of our lifestyle to always begin and begin again in our struggle to hear Christ’s voice. That’s because we cannot deny that we often fail to be consistent and faithful to our original intention to always listen to him and to follow his ways. 

 We just have to begin and begin again, never getting tired, since Christ never tires of us. This seems to be the law of our earthly life. We should not remain down all the time. We can and should always get up. 

 That we always sin is already quite known. St. John in his first letter said so. “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him (God) a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1,10) So, let’s just acknowledge our sinfulness and ask for forgiveness. Let’s avoid playing the hypocrite. 

 Besides, St. Paul vividly describes the constant inner struggle we all have between good and evil. From his Letter to the Romans, we read: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate...I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.” (7,15ff.) 

 And again, we are told that we are actually ranged against powerful enemies. Not only do we have to contend with our wounded flesh, and the sinful allurements of the world. We also have to do battle with powerful spiritual enemies. 

 As St. Paul put it in his Letter to the Ephesians, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (6,12) 

 Let’s remember this fact of life, and not waste too much time lamenting and feeling bad because of our weakness and sinfulness. All we have to do is to be quick to say sorry, saying it from the heart no matter how repeatedly we have to do it. And from there, let’s continue the process of conversion and transformation, going to confession often, cultivating the virtues, sanctifying our work and ordinary duties, etc.