Pray for Your Enemies

Homily for Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus is very direct in today’s Gospel passage from Matthew. “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” As I pondered this statement in prayer, the first question that popped into my head was “Who do I identify as an enemy?”

The Hebrew word for “enemy,” carries with it this connotation: an enemy is one who hates us or distresses us. An enemy is an adversary or someone who has a sharp bite. They are people who have hurt us or who have hurt a loved one. We rightly tend to keep them at a distance as a way of self-preservation.

However, we cannot afford to categorize someone as an enemy if they simply disagree with us. Today, social scientists preach that we need to learn to resolve confrontations. Unfortunately, sometimes disagreements cannot be resolved. In these instances, I think that Jesus’ answer is appropriate; namely, to pray for those with whom we disagree while, at the same time, praying for the grace to be generous. By praying for the grace to be generous, one can embrace conflict engagement and learn to live with those one perceives to be enemies.  Jesus is not asking us to tolerate hateful words or actions.  We do not need to compromise our safety or the safety of those we love.  But perhaps we can feel compassion for those whom we see as the enemy. We are told to be perfect as God is perfect; God’s perfection lies in God’s mercy and compassion.

Thomas a’ Kempis has given us a teaching about such prayer in his famous treatise: “The Imitation of Christ.” He maintains that we cannot change anything or anyone but ourselves in prayer. As much as we might like to think we can, we cannot change other people. However, we can change our attitude toward them.

Jesus, himself, has taught us how to pray about situations which we cannot change. As he hung on the cross, he prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” When it comes to people that we see as enemies, no better prayer has ever been uttered.