Σφαίρα Gaea

“Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Lk 6:27-28)

‘Love your enemies.’

These are very strong words. They completely upset our way of thinking and compel us to make a sharp u-turn in our lives!

Let’s face it. We all have some enemies of one kind or another.

My enemy might be a next door neighbor or that unpleasant, meddlesome lady whom I meet in the elevator and always try to avoid.

Your enemy could be that relative who mistreated your father thirty years ago and with whom you haven’t spoken since.

He could be that classmate whom you have refused to look at ever since he got you into trouble with the teacher.

She could be the girlfriend who dropped you to go out with someone else.

Or he could be the salesman who cheated you.

Quite often we look at politicians as enemies if their opinions are different from ours…

And, as always, there are people who hate the Church and, therefore, regard the clergy as their enemies.

All these, and many, many others whom we consider enemies, must be loved.

Loved?

Yes. They must be loved! However, this is not merely a matter of changing hatred into some benign kind of feeling.

We have to do much more than that.

This is what Jesus says:

“Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

As we can see, Jesus wants us to overcome evil with good. He wants us to show our love concretely.

We might wonder why Jesus is asking this of us.

The fact is He wants us to pattern our lives after the life of God, His Father, who “makes His sun rise on the bad and the good, and cause rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5:45).

This is the point: We are not alone in the world. We have a Father, and we must become similar to Him. Furthermore, He has the right to demand this of us because when we were still His enemies, when we were still living in darkness, He loved us first by sending us His Son who died in such a terrible way for each one of us.

“Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you…”

Jerry, a black boy from Washington, had already learned to live these words. Because of his high I.Q., he was admitted to a special class together with many white children. But intelligence alone was not enough to win him acceptance. Everyone disliked him because he was black. Then Christmas came. The other children exchanged gifts, leaving Jerry out. Naturally, the young boy cried, but when he arrived home, he remembered the words of Jesus, “Love your enemies.” So, with his mother’s permission, he bought gifts which he distributed with love to all of his “white brothers and sisters.”

“Love your enemies… pray for those who mistreat you.”

Elizabeth, a girl from Florence, was climbing the steps of a church to go to Mass when, all of a sudden, outside the church, a group of youngsters her own age started to make fun of her. She would have wanted to scream at them, but she smiled instead. In church Elizabeth prayed for them. As she was leaving, they approached her and asked why she had behaved that way. She explained that she was a Christian and, therefore, she had to love in every situation. She said these words with great conviction. The following Sunday she discovered that her witness had borne fruit. When she entered the church, she saw the same girls sitting attentively in the first pew.

These are examples of how children take God’s Word seriously. For this reason they are “grown-ups” in His eyes.

Perhaps we too ought to take steps to remedy certain situations in our own lives; all the more so since we will be judged by the way we judge others. We ourselves are the ones who give God the measure by which He will measure us. In fact, we often pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Therefore, let us love our enemies! Only by doing this can we heal disunity, break down barriers and build the Christian community.

It is difficult? Painful? Does the mere thought of it keep us awake at night? Take courage. It is not the end of the world. It takes just a little effort on our part, and then God will do the remaining ninety-nine percent, and we will experience boundless joy in our hearts!

Chiara Lubich

The Word of Life is translated into 90 languages and dialects, and reaches more than 13 million people all over the workd through the press, radio and television.

Image by warby07-644-2010 on DeviantArt.

“Those who keep [God’s] commandments remain in Him, and He in them.” (1 Jn 3:24)

When you love someone, you want to stay with them always. This is also God’s desire, God who is Love. He created us so that we would be able to meet Him, and we will only possess the fullness of joy when we reach intimate union with Him, for He is the only one who can satisfy our hearts. He came down from heaven to be with us and lead us into communion with Him.

John, in his letter, speaks about remaining or dwelling within each other, God in us and we in Him, reminding us of that compelling appeal of Jesus at the last supper, “Remain in Me, as I remain in you.” And with the parable of the vine and the branches, Christ explained how strong and vital is the link that unites us to Him (Jn 15:1-5).

But how can we reach union with God?

John does not hesitate. We just have to observe His commandments:

“Those who keep [God’s] commandments remain in Him, and He in them.”

Are there many commandments that must be followed in order to reach this unity?

No, because Jesus has condensed them all into one. Just before stating the Word of Life that has been chosen for this month, John reminds us, “And His commandment is this: We should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as He commanded us” (1 Jn 3:23)

Believing in Jesus and loving one another as He loved us These are the only percepts.

If human existence finds its fulfillment in God’s living among us, there is only one way to be fully ourselves: by loving! John is so convinced of this that he keeps repeating it throughout the letter: “Whoever remains in love remains in God, and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16); “If we love one another; God remains in us” (1 Jn 4:12).

Tradition holds that when John was very old, he was asked about the Lord’s teachings and he would always repeat the words of the new commandment. If they asked him why he didn’t speak about anything else, he would answer, “Because it is the commandment of the Lord! If we put it into practice, that is enough.”

That’s how it is with every Word of Life. Without fail they all lead us to love. It can’t be otherwise because God is Love, and each of His words contains love, expresses love and, if put into practice, it transforms us into love.

“Those who keep [God’s] commandments remain in Him, and He in them.”

This month’s Word of Life invites us to believe in Jesus and adhere with all our being to His person and teachings. It asks us to believe that He is the love of God—as John teaches us again in this letter—and that out of love He gave His life for us (1 Jn 3:16). It invites us to believe even when He seems far away, when we don’t feel His presence, when difficulties arise or suffering comes.

Strengthened by this faith, we’ll know how to live by His example and obey His commandments to love each other as He has loved us.

We’ll know how to love even when someone no longer seems lovable, even when we have the impression that our love is inadequate, useless, and not returned. By loving this way, we’ll revive all our relationships, making them ever more sincere, ever deeper, and our unity will attract God’s presence among us.

“Those who keep [God’s] commandments remain in Him, and He in them.”

Here’s the experience of a married couple: “We were really in love, my husband and I. Everything was fine during the first years of our marriage. This last year, however, he has been very tired and stressed out. Here in Japan, work responsibilities weigh down on a man’s shoulders like a ton of bricks.

“After coming home from work one evening, he sat down at the table for supper. I was about to sit down next to him when he shouted at me to go away, ‘You don’t have the right to eat because you don’t work!’

“The whole night I cried and thought about leaving him and separating. The next day thousands of thoughts continued to nag at me: ‘I made a mistake in marrying him. I can’t live with him anymore.’

“In the afternoon I spoke with my friends, those with whom I share the desire to live an authentic Christian life. They listened to me with much love. From this communion with them I found the strength and the courage I needed to start over again.

“Then I went home to prepare my husband’s supper once more. As the hour of his return from work drew closer, however, my fear returned and grew stronger. ‘How is he going to react tonight?’ But a voice inside me was saying, ‘Don’t give up. Welcome this suffering. Continue to love.’

“Just then he appeared at the door, holding a cake he had bought for me. ‘I’m sorry for what happened yesterday,’ he said.”

Chiara Lubich

The Word of Life is translated into 90 languages and dialects, and reaches more than 13 million people all over the workd through the press, radio and television.

Image by PARANOIA–77 on DeviantArt.