Praying for our enemies...

Praying for our enemies.

For those who have family members in the military, or have served in the military in a war or combat zone, it would be easy to hate the enemy on the other side of the wire (perimeter).  

When I was on the inside of the wire, I knew that I had to stop whatever enemy attempt was made to gain entry to the air base I was assigned to protect.  If that meant killing the enemy, then that’s what I had to do. 

But did I hate the enemy?

I hated what he was doing and what he did.    I feared him and what he might do to me and my brothers, but how could I hate an individual without knowing him?

In battle, the series of events gets confused.  But the initial action is to neutralize the enemy, then, after the “smoke clears,” patch up the good guys as well as the bad guys.   Just as the bloodied, beaten man lay on the side of the road until the “enemy” – the Samaritan – came along and tended to his wounds and provided shelter until he was well.   If the wounded man was not of the true faith at the time, did the actions of the Samaritan, lead to his conversion?  

The Samaritan loved and prayed for his enemy, even though those like the wounded man hated the outsiders, those very same Samaritans. 

In 2008, an article was posted on the St. Benedict Center website entitled: The Seven Words, by Brian Kelly.

In that article, Mr. Kelly lists and explains the seven last utterances of Our Blessed Lord as He hung in His terrible agony on the Cross.   The first of those utterances, as recorded in the Gospels, pertains directly to the title of my short essay: Praying for our enemies.

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  (St. Luke 23:34.)

But Our Lord expressed another “six words,” including: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”  (St. Matthew 27:46, also St. Mark 15:34.)

In His human nature, Jesus is suffering physical – and spiritual – pain that can only be imagined (or can it?).   And because of the almost unbearable distress, He exclaims in desperation of being forsaken by God, His Father.

Divinely speaking though, we know that did not happen.

When we feel that we have been wronged by our enemy, do we not also feel that we have been forsaken, and ask: why is this happening to me?   What did I do that caused someone to attack my character or reputation, and, in the extreme case, my physical well-being?  

There are no easy answers.   But we do know that evil is mysterious.

I think it would be safe to say that we all have, at one time or another, been exposed to evil and praying for those who perpetrate evil upon us is one of the most difficult commands that Our Lord gave to us.   This is where the rubber hits the road, so to speak, when it comes to living our faith.  

One of the greatest examples of forgiving our enemies, in addition to that of Our Lord forgiving His enemies from the Cross, is that of one of my favorite Saint-martyrs St. Stephen the proto-martyr of the Church (Feast Day, December 26). 

As Acts 7:58-59 tells us, as he was being stoned by the Jews for professing the Faith of Christ, he said: “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.”  (St. Augustine on Prayer, March 26, 2012, Brother Andre` Marie.)

Our Lord also tells us that there is no greater love for a man to lay down his life for his friend.

But what of a man’s enemy?

Who would be willing to lay down one’s life for an enemy if doing so would lead to that person’s conversion?      

Perhaps the way one dies would affect the one inflicting the heinous act upon us as some of those who tortured the Catholic faithful in the early centuries of the Church were converted by their martyrdom.  

And would such a sacrifice cover a multitude of sins for the last and ultimate act of that person on earth?  

Praying for one’s enemy is loving one’s enemy.

Our Lord tells us to not to hate our enemies, but to love them!   This is another big time test of our faith.  His command directly contradicts our fallen human nature to exact an eye for an eye.   But we are under the authority of the new covenant, not the old.

Our country and most of the Western nations are currently experiencing a moral morass that seems to be favoring the unnatural; the ungodly at the expense of those attempting to live a Christ-centered, Catholic life.  We are indeed surrounded by the enemies of the Faith both without and within the Church. 

Though it would be easy to become cynical and despair, all is not lost, as Our Lord overcame the world, the flesh, the devil – and death – through His bloody redemptive sacrifice.

But we have not been orphaned! 

As St. Peter and the Apostles were locked behind closed doors in the upper room for fear of the Jews, the Holy Ghost descended – as Our Lord promised – to invigorate and strengthen them to the point of martyrdom.   We too have His very flesh and blood, in the Holy Eucharist, to strengthen us to face whatever obstacles and roadblocks that may hinder us from finishing the race and winning the eternal prize (St. Paul).

In addition, He sent His most Blessed Mother to give us another weapon – the Rosary. 

This powerful, little weapon of choice is easy to reload by repeating the holy names of Jesus and Mary and begging for that final perseverance at the hour of our death.

If a physical martyrdom does come to the elect, may we be able to utter those last words of forgiveness and mercy for our enemies as St. Stephen did, so eloquently and so desperately, with his last breath.    

E. DeLalla