Love Your Enemy

How do you do that?

Love your enemy. Really?

It’s even nearly impossible not to imagine grabbing the hair of those teens who just couldn't queue properly on the way to the train station upstairs.

For such a small matter, I hate them instantly. I don’t even know them.

‘Love your enemy’ is one of many teachings of Jesus that I still don’t understand. Because I haven’t found any ways to put it into practice. How can I? Surely, it doesn’t make any sense. I tried imagining it several times. Tried to remember my past conflicts with others, looking for some situation that might suit the context. Was I ever, in my experience, mad/ angry to someone but love him/ her at the same time? Did I ever dislike someone but like him/ her at the same time?

The first question is easier to answer. Yes, I can be mad at my daughter, but it doesn’t mean I hate her. I’m mad for a reason at a given time, for some mistakes she made that were unpleasant for me. But I never hate her for that. But of course this can’t be considered loving my enemy. No sane mothers hate their children. 

So, who’s my enemy? 

Someone who hurt me, either physically or mentally... Someone who trespassed against me. Someone who hates me…

Well… it’s not hard to come up with a list of names who have hurt my feelings. Some of them are still in my life. But most of them are not. For some of those who are still in my life, I may have forgiven them. But I’m not sure if I love them. Most probably I only cope with them because I still need them. Somehow I managed to forget their wrongdoings, and not think about them. They don’t occupy my heart or my mind. And I don’t believe that’s love…

See? I couldn’t find it. 

It’s just not human… If you think of it as a mere human being…

It takes more than just humanity. It takes a divinity.

The same divinity that enables the late Pope John Paul to forgive and pray for the man who tried to assassinate him.

A song title came to my mind. The Power of Love by Celine Dion.

“...Whenever you reach for me

I'm gonna do all that I can

We're heading for something

Somewhere I've never been

Sometimes I am frightened but I'm ready to learn

of the power of love..”

Well, isn’t that something? 

If God asks me to love my enemy, and I answer, guess He’ll grant me that crucial power of love. So maybe, all we need to do, if we sincerely want to love others who have hurt us, simply ask the Lord to give us the capacity. 

Like I said, it’s not human. 

It’s divine. It doesn’t come from this world.