On Loving My Enemies: I just can’t do it

The readings from the Church’s lectionary for the past two days were from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. They both deal with loving our enemies and a “peaceful resistance,” even generosity, toward those who do evil toward us.  Now, these two groups are not always the same. Sometimes we have “enemies” who have not done anything evil. Sometimes we don’t even know our enemies personally so how can we truly hate them? And sometimes we are viewed as an enemy and we don’t know why…

As a woman who has been praying for someone who I’m pretty sure hates me, I am here to tell you that, while I do not believe I’m evil or did anything evil, this person does not see it that way. Sad, but true. Not saying I’m perfect, but I’ve never intentionally caused anyone pain. Even though this person tried really hard to ruin my…