452. Слово в неделю 19 по пятдесятнице

Love your enemies and do good. (Luke 6:35). What the highest of the angels of light futilely sought, what immortal man was seduced by in the paradise of sweetness, God’s love promises you, happy mortals, and commands you now. “I will be like the Most High” (Is. 14:14), says the dreamer of the star; but the God of truth answered with His thunder: “You will descend into hell” (Is. 14:15). “You will be like gods” (Gen. 3:5), the insidious serpent caressed the forefathers; but the God of truth said: “You will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). This same God promises to adopt us as His sons and wants and demands that we be like Him. And how little it costs us, listeners, such a great gift! Its price is love for our enemies: “love your enemies and do good... and you will be sons of the Most High: for that is good for the ungracious and evil” (Luke 6:35–36), “become perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). So, you who have the good fortune to be hated! With the glory of the children of God, I beg you to stop the movements of anger and indignation tearing you apart, in order to survey the path of perfection opened for you by merciful Providence: “love your enemies and do good.” To withhold a vengeful blow, but not to stretch out your hands to help, to shed sweet flattery from your tongue, and to carry bile in the bowels of your heart, does not mean loving your enemies. Love is a living and active participation in the well-being of another. “If... your enemy is hungry, give him food; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink” (Rom. 12:20). This is the image of true love! Do not call yourself in vain to be ready for the services of your opponent - be so in reality. Speak to him with your heart and confirm your assurances with deeds. Insensibly creep into his soul, use this pious cunning in order to take away from him the desire to do evil, in order to restore innocence and calm to a heart outraged by malice. “Love your enemies and do good!” The wisdom of the world finds difficulty here, presenting such love as unnatural; for it must be based on the representation of the visible or imaginary perfections of its object: but how can we love those in whom we see nothing but deceit and malice? Of course, we cannot love evil, and who demands this? Feel all the disgust for vices that they deserve - this is not prohibited, but it is still required; just don’t confuse them with the people themselves in whom you notice them: having separated them, you will still find in them what is worthy of your love. No matter how unnatural it may seem to love an enemy, is it less contrary to nature to hate a person? Human! what a name, what a charming word to disarm the most furious vengeance! Hasn’t nature connected you with him through a thousand everyday needs? Doesn't she speak for him in your heart? God Himself loves him, cares for him, protects him, and are you not afraid, by hating the weak, to arm the Almighty against you? Or do you think that the All-Seeing One will not stand up for His acquisition? To want to punish the enemy is to impudently enter into the rights of the Almighty - this is a kind of indignation against His will and sacred power. Having appropriated a person to Himself with immeasurable benefits, He wants to use the same hand with which he gives him bliss to inflict punishment with it: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord (Rom. 12:19). But why does the God of goodness and mercy accept such a formidable title - the God of vengeance? Is it not because of the lack of His love? - No! He will become our enemy from an excess of love to secure our freedom and tranquility... What a pitiful state - to pay hatred for hatred, insult for insult! What if the enemy is stronger than you?.. What then will your love serve? Is it to speed up your death? And with equal forces, what can we expect if not mutual fall and disaster? Finally, even if he was not able to resist you, are secret feats less terrible than an open attack? And tormenting worries, and tricks, and plans, and enterprises that turn to one’s own harm, and painful thoughts even about one’s own impossible success, and even more painful ones about the luck of the enemy, and, finally, the very successes, accompanied by the greatest remorse, and sometimes general contempt? Oh, how much torment there is for the hating heart—it is hell on earth, the flames of Gehenna! What remains for us to avert this spontaneous torment? Surrender to God and respond to hatred with love, to deceit with simplicity, to malicious intent with goodwill, to reproaches with useful advice, to insults with charity, to curses with prayers. These are the true weapons against the enemy! “When you do this,” according to the expression of the great Apostle, “heaps coals of fire on his head” (Rom. 12:20). No matter how cruel and petrified he may be, your meekness will strike an insensitive heart and make you repent of the insults inflicted on you. She turns his anger on himself - shame burns him. Thus, love for the enemy not only serves as a means to your peace of mind, but also as a strong instruction for him; you then enter into a certain kind of apostolate and become a weapon of its appeal to virtue! For this reason, the merciful God, for one love for enemies, as if imputing to us those virtues to which we incite others, for this one virtue promises forgiveness of our sins: “if ... you forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14). Amazing, listeners, the work of grace! Just as in ancient times the people of Israel, bitten by serpents, looked at the copper image of the serpent and were instantly healed from their deadly ulcers: so a person, wounded by the Edenic serpent and infected with the poison of sin, with a single glance of love at his imitator, his enemy, restores health to his soul. After all, it is in our will to have enemies and benefactors. If we are generous and meek, then they can do nothing except give an opportunity to make amends for our crimes before God. They sow weeds, and we reap wheat: their grievances are our merits. Why do we lose sight of such a great advantage that we can have over our enemies? We look through a magnifying glass at the slightest disadvantages we suffer from them. Doesn't prudence require us to look at everything from the side that is more useful to us and less distressing? Slander? Thank your indiscreet enemy: you will learn a way to correct mistakes that your best friends would not show you. Are they dishonored and deprived of their good name? Be calm; - What harm is there to the sun if some madman says that it is gloomy? Thus, if ill-intentioned people find stains in your virtue that it does not have, it is their dishonor, not yours. Deprived of their estate? There is no need if you did not consider it your own, but if you thought otherwise, then you have a chance to find out the truth. Are they depriving children and friends? Maintain virtue and you will be united in eternity; otherwise you are lost to yourself. Are they oppressed or persecuted? “The earth is the Lord’s, and its fulfillment” (Ps. 23:1). Human persecution only brings us closer to the kingdom of God. “It is blessed to drive away righteousness for the sake of them, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs” (Matthew 5:10). Death threats? Don't be afraid! life and death in one hand; and whoever lives for Christ, for him “death is gain” (Phil. 1:21). If these reflections do not convince you to look at your enemies without confusion and anger, look at Calvary, where heavenly wisdom from ignorance, innocence from hellish crime, the Creator from creation, the Lord Savior from the enemies of the lost suffers and dies. Abhor the enemies of God, defeat the enemies of the Fatherland, “love your enemies.” Amen. You might be interested in: