Love your enemies
It is possible that the prayer of St. Stephen at his martyrdom contributed to the conversion of St. Paul. He prayed that “Father, forgive them because they do not know what they are doing”. Paul was watching. It is possible that some of the words of Stephen and the blissful manner in which he died remained in Paul’s mind, much as he might have wanted to expel them from it, for he left breathing out fire and vowing to destroy all followers of Christ. In any case, it is a very transformed Paul who writes to the Corinthians, as we hear in today's first reading, urging them to be generous like the Macedonians, and in imitation of Jesus who made himself poor in order to enrich us. Even as he persecuted the Church, Paul had all this goodness in him awaiting to be awakened. It might have been awakened through the love and prayers of St. Stephen
In today’s gospel Jesus urges us to love and to pray for our enemies. Love of enemies is a beautiful doctrine until you have real concrete enemies to love; enemies whose names you can name, whose malice is still fresh in your mind. The wounds they have inflicted on you, which may still be fresh can make you blind to their potential for good, which could be brought to fruition through your love and intercession. As things turned out, Paul was to suffer much more than Stephen did, and he was also destined to do so much good for the Church. Now they are forever as brothers in heaven.
Jesus tells us in today’s gospel that love of enemies makes us become truly sons of the Heavenly Father, who causes the sun to shine on good and bad men alike. He concludes with the words: “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect”. Love of enemies does not only place the Christian above many other religions and cultures, it makes us transcend ourselves to assume the image of the Son who prayed for his enemies as he died, and to become truly children of the Heavenly Father.
