The Good Work of Your Enemies
Do you know why the Lord says “Love your enemies” (Luke 6:27)? Because your enemy does something your friends don’t do. Your enemy, which means the person who bugs you, has the power to bring something out in you that is not like Jesus. When your enemy walks into a room, you’re already disturbed. It shows that there is something in you that lacks love and gentleness. Don’t say, if it wasn’t for that person I could be holy. No. You can be holy because of that person. That person is making you holy; making you choose the good; making you like Jesus.
The actions of your enemy are nothing compared to what you are going to yourself because of his actions. What’s planted in the soil of memory produces fruit, good or bad. Your memory is so filled with anger and hurt feelings that it cannot hold anything good. But if you show mercy and forgiveness toward your enemies, you can blamelessly live in the present, and God will take care of the rest.
Sister Angelica in Mother Angelica’s Little Book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality
But she also said “If you’re not a thorn in somebody’s side, you’re not doing Christianity right.”
