Today's gospel provides us with one of Jesus' teachings that often poses a challenge. Speaking to his disciples, he said: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Mt 5: 44).
The natural human tendency is to respond to others in like manner to the way in which they respond to us: if someone likes me, I will make an effort to like them too, but if there is any struggle in a relationship, the natural response is to want to protect ourselves and so we shut off our hearts and close down any possibility of building and nurturing a relationship with the person who has caused us pain.
Jesus calls us not to close our hearts but rather to pray for those who cause us pain. This does not mean that we should not protect ourselves but rather that we should always seek to keep our hearts open to the possibility that we ourselves might - in such circumstances - be being called to grow.
Today, let us do our best to love others, and to pray for those who are hardest to love.
Have a great day.
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