Loving Our Enemies

Do not think that you can show your love for Christ by hating those who seem to be his enemies on earth. Suppose they really do hate him: nevertheless he loves them, and you cannot be united with him unless you love them too. If you hate the enemies of the Church instead of loving them, you too will run the risk of becoming an enemy of the Church, and of Christ; for he said: Love your enemies, and he also said: He that is not with me is against me. Therefore if you do not side with Christ by loving those that he loves, you are against him. But Christ loves all people. Christ died for all people. And Christ said there was no greater love than that a man should lay down his life for his friend. Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy because he thinks you are a savage. Or perhaps he is afraid of you because he feels that you are afraid of him. And perhaps if he believed you were capable of loving him he would no longer be your enemy. Do not be too quick to assume that your enemy is an enemy of God just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy precisely because he can find nothing in you that gives glory to God. Perhaps he fears you because he can find nothing in you of God’s love and God’s kindness and God’s patience and mercy and understanding of the weaknesses of men. Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God, for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice, your mediocrity and materialism, your sensuality and selfishness that have killed his faith.
FATHER THOMAS MERTON, 0.C.S.O. Father Merton (i. 1968) was a Trappist monk (Father Louis) at the Abbey of Gethsemani; Ky., and a prolific author (From New Seeds of Contemplation (c) 1961 by The Abbey of Gethsemani Inc.