The real test of love is to love your enemies. If you love only those who love you, then you are no better than the Mafia whose love for one another is to be partners in crime.

To love your enemies shows no partiality for Our Heavenly Father “makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:4). We cannot say we love God, if we hate our brother or sister. Christ died on the cross for everyone, even our enemies. “Love your enemies” is not just a high bar that Jesus sets for His followers ( Matthew 5 : 44 ). It demonstrates that you are truly a child of the Father and acknowledges that only God is the one to judge.

If we could put this Christlike love into practice, our world would be different, a lot different.

Thus, the real test of our love is how we treat our enemies, those we don’t like, and those who are opposed to us or who persecute us. Do you treat them impartially? Can you rise above your feelings of resentment or anger and do the right thing in spite of your feelings, in spite of been wronged? Can you forgive your enemies?

You don’t have to like them, you don’t have to accept their behavior or approve of any of their wrongdoing. You don’t have to be part of their company but you do have to love them, in spite of what they did wrong. You must forgive and pray for them for they too are children of God.

Loving your enemies is the way to go if you are to create a better world. Abraham Lincoln understood this well. He conquered his enemies, not by hating them or by getting even but by making them his friends. That is the mark of a great man. It is the sign of a true Christian.

St. Paul was once an enemy of the followers of Christ, and he hunted them down like animals so he could destroy them. Then, one day he saw the light. Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus as he was going about his awful mission of terrorizing and apprehending Christians. John Newton was a slave trader, but he converted to Christ and became an abolitionist. He wrote the song, Amazing Grace, to celebrate his escape from inner bondage. Both these erstwhile enemies of Christ learnt the meaning of true love: to love their enemies.

There is a lesson here. God, in His mercy, can change the heart of anyone.

Pray that you become an instrument of God’s healing spirit, sowing love wherever there is hatred, faith where there is doubt, and hope where there is despair.

Always remember, Christ died on the cross, not just for you, but also for your enemies.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy