Saturday, February 20, 2016

"Loving Your Enemies" - A Lenten Minute for Feb. 20

"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." - Matthew 5:44-45

Tough words, and not a suggestion.  Love your enemies. Pray for them.  (And that doesn't mean to pray that something bad happen to them, either.)  It seems like an impossible task, especially when you are angry, afraid or in pain.  How do you forgive someone that you hate? Someone who has hurt you deeply?  Jesus showed us how - from the cross.  We are not called to agree with them, to like them, or to condone their actions.  We are called to love them, to be charitable to them in the face of abuse and rejection, and to pray that they will let God into their hearts.  For when we forgive them - when we pray for them - we strip them of their power over us - and our souls - and show that we are indeed children of God.

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