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| Bishop Barron's Advice |
(Audio)
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.
We must learn to actively will the good even of those who persecute us. But why? Wouldn't it be better to just give everyone, even enemies, space, and not deal with them to the greatest degree possible? Why must we actively attempt to love them?
It is not enough to simply avoid seeking vengeance.
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head (see Romans 12:19-20, emphasis mine)
Coals? Saint Jerome suggests that, "[h]eaping coals of kindness on one who has wronged you can cure him of vices, burn away his malice, and move him to repentance" (from Homilies on the Psalms 41). After all, was it not a coal that purged the lips of the prophet in the book of Isaiah? Is it not the fire of the Holy Spirit who purifies us? Yet it is precisely God's kindness and ours that can have this purifying effect. It is precisely the tender love of Jesus that opens us to mercy. It is our tender love and forgiveness for our enemies that can do the same for them.
that you may be children of your heavenly Father
The goal is to have hearts like the heart of the Father. He loved us while we were enemies.
Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life (see Romans 5:10).
What kind of love is this that not only doesn't give up in the face of hatred and persecution but instead doubles down and loves all the more? It is something divine, beyond mere natural comprehension. Yet it is something in which we are invited to share. This is what it means to be a people "peculiarly his own".
And today the LORD is making this agreement with you:
you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you
It is "peculiar" precisely because it only exists in the heart of the Father and in those who participate in that heart through faith. As Catholics we need to be peculiar in this way. We need to show a world becoming more and more tribal and divided that love can be greater and more powerful than any differences between us.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
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