![]() His success caused conflict over Gentile conversions that had to be resolved in Jerusalem. After initially being rebuffed by the elders there after his conversion, Paul was later recruited to expand the missionary reach of the church into Asia Minor. Today’s first reading shows his labors to raise a collection from his Gentile communities in Greece and Macedonia to take to the Jerusalem church, which was experiencing famine. We need examples of people who loved like this to understand the grace involved. Love of enemies is, as Dorothy Day often said, “a harsh and dreadful thing,” an ordeal of patience and personal conversion. Failing at that, he exhibited a tough love that was perhaps a last appeal to save them from blindness and self-destruction. Jesus repeatedly and patiently engaged his enemies with dialogue. The Beatitudes of purity of heart and peacemaking suggest a grace to overcome the natural defensiveness built into the survival instinct. To be a child of the heavenly Father is to reflect the divine image. Our own experience in relationships only proves how daunting such a conversion would be to love or actually pray for an opponent, much less an oppressor. We do not doubt that Jesus himself reflected this kind of l love, but even he showed frustration and anger during his ministry at his religious critics. Learning how to be “perfect” as the heavenly Father is a tremendous ideal, a vision at the end of a lifetime of transformation. ![]() The ability to love an enemy or pray for someone who is persecuting you is obviously a divine gift. ![]() Jesus’ instruction on God’s unconditional love for everyone, good and evil alike, follows an equally radical call to nonviolence as a strategy for transforming a violent world. “I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” Matt 5:44). ![]()
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