{"id":2651,"date":"2009-03-07T08:48:11","date_gmt":"2009-03-07T08:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2009\/03\/pray-for-them-that-persecute-a\/"},"modified":"2023-02-22T11:11:42","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T11:11:42","slug":"pray-for-them-that-persecute-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2009\/03\/pray-for-them-that-persecute-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Is On Your “E” List?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"facetear.jpg\"<\/a>Saturday of the First Week of Lent<\/strong>
\nDeuteronomy 26:16-19
\nPsalm 118: 1-2, 4-5, 7-8
\nMatthew 5:43-48<\/em><\/p>\n

The Spirit of Compunction<\/strong>
\nIf yesterday’s Gospel pierced your heart with sorrow for the sin of anger, it is likely that today’s Gospel will open a fresh wound. At the Prayer Over the People <\/u>on Ash Wednesday we asked God for the spirit of compunction<\/em>, for the grace of a Word-pierced heart. Do you remember the prayer? It is a threshold text, one of great importance for the rest of Lent:<\/p>\n

Upon those who bow themselves before your majesty, O Lord, graciously pour out the spirit of compunction, that, by your mercy, they may win the rewards promised to those who repent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wound Thou This Heart of Mine<\/strong>
\nWe asked God to pierce our hearts through with the “two-edged sword of His Word” (Heb 4:11), not once, but again and again. Lent is all about becoming vulnerable; it is about approaching the Word of God with none of the protective gear we so cleverly devise against it. It is about saying to God, “Wound Thou this heart of mine; wound it again and again until by the wounding of Thy Word I am healed”<\/p>\n

Pray For Those Who Persecute You<\/strong>
\nToday the command to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us pierces our hearts. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:43-45). People ordinarily pass over this command of the Lord, saying, “I am not the sort of person to have enemies.”<\/p>\n

Enemies<\/strong>
\nAn enemy is one who feels hatred for or fosters harmful designs against another. An enemy is one who lives in a state of enmity. Enmity is a feeling or condition of hostility, ill will, animosity, antipathy, or antagonism. Jesus does not address our being enemies in today’s passage; He focuses instead on how we are to respond to those who hold us in enmity, those who have hostile feelings towards us.<\/p>\n

Cain and Abel Revisited<\/strong>
\nReturn for a moment to Chapter 4 of the book of Genesis: it recounts the first enmity, the first hostility between brothers.<\/p>\n

In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell (Gen 4:3-4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There you have the first indications of enmity: anger and the fallen countenance. The bile of enmity secreted in the heart makes for a bitter face.<\/p>\n

Cain’s Fallen Countenance<\/strong>
\nGod himself intervenes to save Cain from further sin.<\/p>\n

The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it (Gen 4:6-7).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The whole psychology of sin is contained in these two verses. God reads the anger in Cain’s heart on his face and immediately offers him a way out of it. It is not too late for Cain to do well. God warns Cain of the sin that, like a wild beast, is couching at his door. Sin wants to devour Cain, but God tells him that he must “master it.” The taming of the beast! Master the beast of anger lest it overcome you and eat your heart!<\/p>\n

Sin Upon Sin<\/strong>
\nYou know the outcome of the story. Cain does not heed God’s warning. He is overcome by the wild beast of anger. “Cain said to Abel his brother, ‘Let us go out into the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him” (Gen 4:8). The ultimate sin is murder but, looking under it, what other sin do you find? Anger. And looking under anger, what sin do you find? Bitterness. And looking under bitterness, what sin do you find? Envy and jealousy.<\/p>\n

The Snake Pit of the Heart<\/strong>
\nOur confessions are often superficial; we confess the sin that lies at the surface, the obvious sin. We fail to uncover what lies beneath it. The true examination of conscience is an excavation of the heart. We are afraid of overturning the rocks of our sins lest we find under them a pit of hissing vipers. Never fear to expose the snake pit of the heart in confession. As soon as the light of Christ strikes it, the snakes are driven out, but to uncover the pit, one sin after another must be overturned. The story of Cain and Abel teaches that the root of enmity lies, more often than not, in jealousy. Jealousy breeds resentment. Resentment breeds anger. Anger breeds violence. Violence escalates into murder.<\/p>\n

Names and Faces From the Past<\/strong>
\nYou may not think that you have enemies, or you may think that your enemies are all ghosts of the past, ghosts who will never come back to haunt you. An easy way to avoid obeying the command given us by the Lord today is to deny that we have enemies. But enmity, in varying degrees, is part of the human condition. Go to prayer then, assuming that you have enemies now and have had them in the past. No one is spared enmity in this life. Go to prayer, remembering those faces and names from the past that bring with them a twinge of pain, a feeling of hurt.<\/p>\n

Praying for the “E” List<\/strong>
\nWhen you pray, remember to look at your “E list” (“E” for enemy), the list of those with whom you are at enmity, and even of those you imagine hate you. Imagined hatred is as poisonous to the one imagining it as is real hatred. Trust God to sort out the real from the imagined. Name your enemies before God; that is the first step in loving them. The merciful Christ will himself bring to perfection the prayer he commands. “;Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:45).<\/p>\n

Today’s Oratio<\/em><\/strong>
\nPrayer of Forgiveness and Reparation<\/em><\/p>\n

Lord Jesus Christ,
\nWho revealed the infinite mercy of Your Sacred Heart
\nin saying: “Love your enemies
\nand pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:44)
\nand again, “Bless those who curse you,
\npray for those who abuse you” (Lk 6:28),
\ngive me, I beseech You,
\ngrace to obey these commandments of yours,
\nand to persevere in praying daily
\nfor those who, in any way,
\nhave abused, cursed, hurt, or rejected me.
\nI pray for those who hate me,
\nfor those who resent me
\nand for those who have spoken ill of me.
\nI beg you to bless them abundantly
\nand to pour into their hearts
\nsuch a profusion of healing mercies
\nthat in them and around them
\nlove will triumph over hatred,
\nfriendship over resentment,
\nsweetness over bitterness,
\nmeekness over anger,
\nand peace over enmity.
\nI further ask you to extend these graces
\nto their families and to all whom they hold dear.
\nIn particular, I pray today for N. (and N.).
\nI present him\/her\/them
\nto Your Eucharistic Face,
\nasking You to envelop him\/her\/them in Its healing radiance,
\ndispelling whatever shadows of sin
\nmay have darkened his\/her\/their mind(s)
\nor hardened his\/her their heart(s)
\nin anger, hatred, or the refusal to forgive.
\nFor my part,
\nwith deep sorrow I confess
\nthat I have sinned grievously against others,
\ncausing them pain and even endangering their souls.
\nI pray you, O Merciful Jesus, to repair the evil I have done to others
\nand to heal the hurt I have inflicted on them.
\nIn particular, I acknowledge my sins against N. (and N.)
\nimploring You to heal and repair the harm I have done him\/her\/them.
\nI ask you so to penetrate my heart
\nwith the charity of Your Pierced Heart
\nthat I will be able to forgive
\nthose who have offended me,
\nto love them sincerely,
\nand to desire for them all that will contribute to their true happiness in this life and in the next.
\nBy means of a permanent intention,
\nI desire to renew this prayer
\nin every offering of Your Holy Sacrifice.
\nLet the light of Your Eucharistic Face
\nshine in the hearts of all who harbour
\nhatred or resentment toward me,
\nto bring them healing and peace.
\nLet Your Precious Blood
\ntriumph over evil
\nin those against whom I have sinned
\nand in those who have sinned against me,
\nso that, delivered from the shadows
\nof this valley of tears,
\nwe may one day praise Your Mercy together
\nin the sweetness of a boundless charity.
\nAmen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday of the First Week of Lent Deuteronomy 26:16-19 Psalm 118: 1-2, 4-5, 7-8 Matthew 5:43-48 The Spirit of Compunction If yesterday’s Gospel pierced your heart with sorrow for the sin of anger, it is likely that today’s Gospel will open a fresh wound. At the Prayer Over the People on Ash Wednesday we asked <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lent-2007"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-GL","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2651"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24834,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651\/revisions\/24834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}