“Love your enemies”

I was brought up under a war-footing. Our war comics still reminded us of who won World War II. The Korean War had only recently reached stalemate. We were about to experience the intensity of the Cuba missile crisis. “Hate those commies”. The Cold War was red hot in those days. And then, of course, we were soon caught up in the Vietnam War. “Love your enemies.” I can’t remember how our priests dealt with this saying in those days. They probably preferred to keep it close to home, rather than reflect on international events. Today’s gospel reading from Matthew 5:43-48 is a tough one. I remember a student of mine who was a Baptist minister and chaplain to the army. He prepared a presentation on how to care for men and women who were being trained to kill and this was one of those biblical sayings that he had to grapple with and not very successfully. So, here we are now praying for those who are gathered at peace conferences in Switzerland and Qatar. It is so difficult to undo what we have been brought up to believe and to begin to see those, whom we were taught to see as “enemies”, as sisters and brothers. Let us never give up on this struggle of a different kind, the constant struggle to keep in touch with our deepest humanity and to always reach out to the other, especially those whom we have seen as different or as hostile, and see a fellow human being whom we are called to love.