Love your enemy Radical Reasoning

The texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary today remind us of the radical call of Christians to “Love Your Enemy”. This cannot be meant to be taken literally? The consequence might be death! Certainly the transitions in North Africa and the Middle East at this time have brought us confusion about “Who is our Enemy?” It is difficult to tell. Even more the people who might be our enemy, who might be terrorists, look the same as those peacefully giving their lives in public squares for freedom and an end to oppression. They have the same kind of names as terrorists. They love their children and families as we love ours. They pray to God in public. We understand that even the suffering of Jesus continues with them in their struggle. Who is my neighbour? Jesus answers this question in the Scripture with the parable of the Good Samaritan. (Luke 10:25-37) Who is my enemy? The text from the Gospel of Matthew today and the text from the Hebrew Book of Leviticus would indicate that our enemy is the one we love. (or need to love). The power and the Presence of the Lord God is presented to the Hebrew people as the source and the strength to obey the command to love your neighbour as yourself. Paul addresses the Corinthians to proclaim that we are the temples of the Holy Spirit the love between the Father and the Son. Our invitation to and participation in this intimacy is the Presence through which the God who loves all Creation is express in the flesh of our existence. Matthew exhorts “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect!’ Father Larry Gillick at Creighton University reflects about this ending to the texts today.