Sr. Liz: Praying for our enemies
God is love.
Peace!
Do good to those who hate you.
War is not the answer.
Love, not hate.
We have all heard the sayings of Jesus and the slogans. But do we actually believe them? When was the last time we prayed for our enemies? Remember the story of St. Paul? (“Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”) But then God literally knocked him off his horse and Paul had a conversion of heart. Instead of praying that God will crush/kill/destroy our enemies, how about asking God to change their hearts?
Loving God, we raise up to you all the members of all the hate groups in the world, especially members of ISIS and Boka Haram. We pray that each of these people may have a deep experience of you as the God Who is Love—an experience so deep and profound that they, like St. Paul, may be “knocked off their horses” and have a true conversion of heart. We pray that everyone in the whole world may come to know and experience you as the God of Love. Amen.
Sr. Elizabeth Ann Christensen, SDS (Sr. Liz)