Love your enemies

Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A

In the Gospel reading today Jesus continues teaching on reinterpretation of the Law which began last Sunday. Jesus teaches us the importance of relationship, dialogue and love for our fellow human beings. Wisdom through the Holy Spirit will enrich our lives and give us a different perspective to life which is often the opposite of what society, our friends and family tell us. Jesus’ command to love one another is found time and time again in the Gospels. Jesus challenges us to think inclusively and not exclusively about each other, it is a radical way of thinking which impacts the way we relate to others. Jesus offers us a higher principle than “an eye for an eye” when reacting to those who insult or harm us. We are not to impose our will on others, instead be generous to people who hurt us and to pray for them. Jesus gives us very strong examples as to what he means. Offering the other cheek when struck, handing over one’s cloak which might keep them warm, carrying someone’s things further than what is required, giving willingly to those who ask and being prepared to lend ones possessions, are extremely creative ways of reinterpreting the Law. We are to disarm our enemies with our willingness to go beyond what is required. In the heat of the moment, it is so difficult to choose not to answer back, not to reply with an insult when hurt. It is so hard to admit our own faults and to take responsibility for our harsh words, thoughtless actions and indeed our inaction when faced with a dilemma. For Jesus being perfect consists in being filled with unconditional love, the love that God has shown us. Jesus is not suggesting that we allow ourselves to be abused or remain passive but asks us to offer “active non-resistance.” Instead of retaliating and hitting back, Jesus is teaching us to “right our wrongs” by overcoming evil with goodness, not with revenge. It means showing love to someone even though society encourages us to be indifferent or intolerant to their suffering. To love our enemies is extremely radical but in doing so we are growing towards perfection as our heavenly Father is perfect. There is always something more we can learn about our relationship to God, to ourselves and to each other.

A reading from the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 5: 38-48)

Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow. “You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

  1. Read the Gospel story so that you are familiar with it.
  2. Reflect on what the Gospel story is saying to you. Which points would you highlight and why?
  3.  It is so hard to love those who don’t like you. Emotions often cloud our judgement. As a family discuss how Jesus teaches us to treat our enemies. End your discussion by praying for enemies, placing them before God. 
  4.  Explain to your children that Jesus doesn’t expect us to always be perfect, we are human and sometimes make mistakes, but Jesus asked us to try and learn from our mistakes and to reach out to those we have hurt or argued with. If we reach out in love, then we are doing what Jesus did. We are following his example.
  5. Together with your family find the right time to read this Gospel. The environment helps, so before you start, prepare;
    i. The Bible reading from St Matthew (5, 17-37)
    ii. Cover the table with a green cloth
    iii. A computer/laptop with the readings and clips
  6. Go through the steps with your children (2 age groups are being suggested).
  7. Feel free to adapt to your situation
  8. Be creative 😊 
  9. Go to the Prayer Corner section to continue praying as a family. 

In today’s Gospel Jesus asks us to do something which we might find hard. Jesus asks us to love our enemies and to share what we have with our neighbour.

  • We must forgive and love our enemies and never hate them. We should pray for them instead.
  • Red craft card
  • Heart person template and instructions
  • White paper
  • Glue/Scissors
  • Colours/ Stickers 
InstructionsDownload
TemplateDownload

Do you know what an enemy is? It is a person who hates another person and wants to harm or hurt them. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that we must learn to forgive our enemies, and that we must never hurt or hate them. Do you think that this is easy to do? Is it easy to like someone who is mean to you or someone whom you do not get along with? Jesus tells us to love others as God has loved us, that means all people, even those whom we do not like!  

One day, Jesus was on the mountain and he was saying some things which really surprised his listeners. He said to them “But, I say, love your enemies and if someone does mean and hurtful things to you, pray for them.” What Jesus asks them, and us because we are his followers too, may sound hard. Why should we love our enemies? We should love our enemies because when we do we are acting like children of God, we are setting a good example for others to follow. Jesus does not want us to love only those people who love us, but we should give generously to our neighbour. Not just the person who lives next to us or sits next to you at school or our friends, but our neighbour is any person who needs our help. Jesus does not want us to feel angry and hate someone who is mean to us, Jesus tells us to not let our anger win but to pray for that person and to give a good example of what a follower of Jesus would do. Jesus asks us to be nice to each other, to be respectful and to share what we have and to always say sorry to the people we hurt, by doing these things we will turn our enemies into our friends. This is never easy, but we should try to always do what we know is right.

Sign of the Cross.

Loving Father, I know that it is easy to love those who love me. Help me to love my enemies so that they might know what it means to be a child of God. Help me to share generously with all those who do not have enough in our world. Amen.

As a reminder of today’s Gospel message, to love God and love our neighbour you can make a “Heart person” and keep it in your room.

Listen to the song, Forever love, forever God .

In today’s Gospel which is part of “The Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus asks us to think about the way we treat others, about our relationship with God and ourselves. Jesus challenges us to not settle for what everyone else does but to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute you.

  • Loving our enemies is not easy, it is often the opposite from the way most people react to those whom they dislike.
  • Hand printout
  • Pencil/colours

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that we ought to “love our enemies and to pray for those who try to harm you.” Do you think that this is easy to do? It’s hard to like someone who is saying mean things about you, or someone who is being unfriendly towards you. When we think about the way people treat us it is easy to treat them the same way. If your friend shares their toys with you then it makes you want to share yours too. If either your mum or dad give you a big hug, then it’s easy to hug them back. Loving others is easy when they show love towards you. Jesus tells us that we need not just to love those whom we like or who love us but even the people who are mean or unkind to us. Jesus said that we should love our enemies! This seems like the opposite of what we want to do. How should you treat someone who teases you in front of all your friends? Or the friend who chooses not to talk to you when another group of friends are around? Jesus asks us not to treat them in the same way but to act like Jesus did, we should show respect and kindness even if they don’t treat us kindly. It is good to secretly ask yourself when faced with an unkind person “what would Jesus do?” Jesus’ teaching about loving your enemies is often the opposite of how we might feel and maybe what some people are telling us but if we truly want to follow Jesus then we need to love others as if they were Jesus himself. If we reach out in love to others, we are doing exactly what Jesus did. In this way we might turn an enemy into a friend.

To remind yourself of how to love your enemies, print the hand. On each of the fingers write a practical way of doing it, for example sharing something with them, smile when they hurt you, make a card and give it to them. Try to think of other ways.

Draw a heart in the centre of the hand and write on it the Bible verse from today “I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:44). 

Listen to the song, I AM YOURS 

Sign of the cross

Almighty Father, thank you for your great love and for my family and friends. Jesus asks us to love and pray for our enemies, so I ask that you can help me to do this by guiding my heart to love my enemies as well as my friends. Amen

Gospel in SymbolsDownload

How to use this space

God speaks to us in many ways, including through the Sunday Scripture readings. Here you will find useful background and activities to better understand the upcoming Sunday's Scripture readings, helping you to connect the Scripture to daily life in a meaningful way.