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. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? (Matthew 5:44-46a NABRE)
We are consumed today with revenge, with vengeance, with payback, with our version of fair. We are quick to understand and encourage someone who has been wronged to seek retribution, to sue, to take all they can as compensation for the loss.
But when we think this way, we lose sight of Jesus. Jesus did not seek any of these things. Jesus is the perfect imprint of God, and he calls us to live differently. Jesus, tells us to love our enemies--stop for a minute now and think who your enemies are. Who persecutes you in some way? Who is unfair with you? Who dislikes you and is glad to disparage or gossip about you?
Take another minute now, and decide to pray for that one person. Promise yourself, right now to love them as much as you love yourself. And be confident that it will lead you to the heart Jesus wants you to have.
Today, I will pray for everyone I encounter, regardless of how they treat me.
Blesseds Jacinta and Francisco Marto, to whom our Lady of Fatima appeared in 1917, pray for us.
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