Doing and being good is not without pain

Doing and being good is not without pain

Matthew 5:43-48. Love your enemies

The Christian calling is to go above what is required or expected. Doing so entails sacrifices. Fasting and abstinence during lent are reminders that the path to virtue is not without pain; there are sacrifices and suffering along the way.

How do we define enemies anyway? Are they people whose very existence is contrary to our own and what we stand for? Do such people really exist?

Loving one’s enemies is thought provoking, and our instincts would always lead us away from the source of our pain. Avoiding our enemies is not a sin, and it is safer.

But dignifying our enemies is lovelier. This is a cross we are called to bear and struggle with.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 71: MARCH 12, 2022]