24 February 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
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“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Matthew 5:44
Peter writes to small Christian communities scattered across Asia Minor, minorities who were mocked, slandered and sometimes threatened by their neighbours. He does not teach them how to hit back. He describes a community: “Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind.” Then the hard part: “Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing.” The world runs on the law of return: you insult me, I insult you; you ignore me, I ignore you. Peter asks Christians to break the circle by returning something better than what they received. He reminds them that blessing is their own calling, “that you might inherit a blessing”, and he quotes the psalm: “let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit; let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it.” Peace is not something we wait for; it has to be pursued, like someone running after a friend who has walked away. The Great Fast is a fast of the tongue as well as of the stomach. A day without meat is easy compared with a day without a sharp reply.
In the Gospel Jesus goes further still: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” Kerala knows this picture well: when the rain comes it falls on every compound, on the house of the saint and the house of the sinner, on the field of the friend and the field of the enemy. That is how God loves. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” Love that only returns love is ordinary; Christian love begins where the return stops. Then the summit of the Sermon: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Perfect here means whole, a love with no one left out. We may not feel love for an enemy, but we can pray for him, and prayer is where love begins. Jesus himself prayed from the Cross for those who crucified him: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Tomorrow the Syro-Malabar Church honours a daughter of Kerala whose family lived these words to the end.
Theme: “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
The blessing that breaks the circle of evil, peace that must be pursued, and the whole love of the Father.
“Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” Psalm 34:14
“Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing.” 1 Peter 3:9
Apply: Answer the next insult with a blessing, or with silence and a prayer.
“If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat; and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink;” Proverbs 25:21
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Matthew 5:44
Apply: Pray by name each evening until Easter for one person who has hurt you.
“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” Leviticus 19:2
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48
Apply: Do one quiet kindness this week for someone who does not like you.
Christian love begins where the return stops.
Bless, pray, and let your love fall like the rain, on everyone.
Take-home resolution: Choose one name and pray for that person every day until Easter.
Dear friends, Peter asks us for a tender heart and a humble mind. And he adds: do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing (1 Peter 3:9).
The world runs on the law of return. You hurt me, I hurt you. Peter asks us to break the circle. The Great Fast is also a fast of the tongue: a day without meat is easy compared with a day without a sharp reply.
Jesus goes further: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44). God sends his sun and rain on the good and the bad alike. If we love only those who love us, what is special about that?
We may not feel love for an enemy, but we can pray for him. Prayer is where love begins. Jesus prayed on the Cross: Father, forgive them (Luke 23:34). Let us choose one name today, and pray for that person every day until Easter. Amen.
Children, Jesus asks us to pray even for people who are unkind to us. Tonight, can you say a little prayer for someone who was not nice to you? That is how God's children love!
Lord Jesus Christ, from the Cross you prayed for those who crucified you. Give us a tender heart and a humble mind, teach us not to repay evil for evil but to answer with a blessing, and make us children of the Father who sends his sun and rain on all. Make our love whole, with no one left out, and give us peace to pursue and to share. Amen.
Today’s readings ask for the hardest thing in Christian life. The First Letter of Peter tells Christians who are being insulted not to repay evil with evil, but with a blessing. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Love your enemies”, and gives the reason: this is what the Father does every morning when the sun comes up. Fasting that does not reach the way we treat those who wrong us has not reached far enough.
Setting.
The letter is addressed to believers scattered through five provinces of Asia Minor (1:1). They are a small minority, and they suffer insults and suspicion because of their new way of life (2:12; 4:4). It names Peter as its author. Many scholars think a disciple gave it its final form in his name, while others hold that Peter wrote it with the help of Silvanus (5:12). After instructions for particular groups (2:18–3:7), the writer now turns to “all of you”.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing.” (3:9)
The letter has already shown where this comes from: “When he was abused, he did not return abuse” (2:23). It is the way Jesus himself walked.
“let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it.” (3:11)
Peace is something to run after. The psalm does not tell us to wait for it to arrive. It tells us to go and find it, and often the first step is ours.
“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.” (3:12)
Why can someone leave vengeance aside? Because the matter is in God’s sight. Nothing done to them goes unseen, and the prayer of the wronged is heard.
How the Church reads it.
This teaching was known very early. St Polycarp, who died a martyr in old age, repeats the line about not returning evil for evil in his letter to the Philippians (chapter 2). The Catechism teaches that Christ’s disciples are to forgive from the heart, and that Christian prayer extends even to the forgiveness of enemies, which is a high point of that prayer (CCC 2843–2844).
Setting.
This is the last of six sayings in the Sermon on the Mount that begin “You have heard” (5:21–48). Jesus has said that he came not to abolish the Law but to fulfil it (5:17), and here he goes to its deepest intention.
“You shall love your neighbor” is Leviticus 19:18. “Hate your enemy” is not a commandment of the Law of Moses. The Law itself says that an enemy’s stray animal must be brought back (Exodus 23:4), and Proverbs says to feed a hungry enemy (Proverbs 25:21). Jesus may be answering a popular way of limiting the word “neighbour”. Many scholars also recall that one community of that age, at Qumran, taught its members to hate “the sons of darkness”.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (5:44)
Prayer is where this starts, when feeling will not cooperate. It is hard to go on hating someone we bring to God day after day. Jesus did this on the cross (Luke 23:34), and Stephen did it as he died (Acts 7:60).
“for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” (5:45)
In a land that depends on rain, this was the plainest evidence of all. God’s goodness does not wait to be earned. To love like this is to look like our Father, and children are known by their likeness.
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (5:48)
The Second Vatican Council takes this verse as the call of every Christian to holiness (Lumen Gentium 40). It is meant for families and workplaces, not only for monasteries.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that charity reaches even to enemies (CCC 1825), and quotes this command of Jesus when it teaches on anger and hatred (CCC 2303). Every Christian is called to holiness on the basis of this verse (CCC 2013). St John Chrysostom, preaching on this passage, describes the steps by which Jesus leads us upward: not to begin the wrong, not to avenge it, to bear it, to do good to the one who did it, and at last to pray for him (Homilies on Matthew 18; in substance).
Does loving my enemy mean that I must accept injustice or stay in danger?
No. To love is to want the other’s true good, and it is no good for a wrongdoer to go on doing wrong. The Church teaches that a person may legitimately defend life (CCC 2264), and those who are being harmed may seek safety and justice. What Jesus forbids is hatred and revenge (CCC 2302–2303). Forgiveness can begin as a prayer long before the feelings follow.