Today’s Gospel from the Sermon of the Mount is one of the most misunderstood of all the teachings of Jesus. What is worse is that it is embraced by secular forces to build a philosophy of niceness and tolerance. Indeed, long before I entered the seminary, while I was till a sailor in the US Navy, the question came how can we live this without being Polyanna? I good question.

However, the answer is rooted in the reality that what is written here is actually not a philosophy of nice, but a military tactic. In order to understand it, we need to understand the battlefield and the response.

A victim of intense anti-catholic persecution with fellow parishioners in the early part of this century, I remember sitting around with others in the rectory discussing the principle of not returning evil for evil, but a blessing instead. We discussed the part that is often missing in this teaching. We can find it in several parts of the bible especially in Paul’s letter to the Romans. There he calls us to return a blessing to our persecutors. However, he explains why: By doing so we are piling hot coals on their heads. Many do not understand that this is just as much a part of that teaching as the rest. It is not about being nice to people, but it is about fighting a battle. The question is whom are we fighting, and what is the battlefield. Again St. Paul in Ephesians informs us. We are not fighting human forces, but principalities and powers. It is a spiritual battle that must be fought spiritually. The battle is for the souls of every human being. The prize is eternal life for us but also for those around us.

However, if we return evil for evil, even though in worldly terms we would be justified, what we are really doing is fighting evil on its own home turf. We will lose that battle every time.

Let us understand this in the big picture. Many will say that if God is all good why is there evil in the world. The answer to that question can be found in the first chapter of Genesis. The fall of humanity brings forth the reign of Satan who is the king of this world. The reality is that this is not the Kingdom of God, it is the Kingdom of the world. The Kingdom of God is within. It is Heaven, but the world is not Heaven. Remember the words of Jesus to Pilate: “My Kingdom is not of this world” and the words of St. John in his first letter explaining that  “We are in the world, but not of it”

We are pilgrims in the world, the world is not the Kingdom of God. So as part of our battle, we must fight those forces that seek the total destruction of those seeking to live in the Kingdom of God. It is a spiritual battle. However, a spiritual battle must be fought differently than any other battle.

Over and over we learn that how we fight evil is through doing good. Paul teaches this also in Romans 12, but these were also among the last words of Father Jerzy Popieulusko one of the last priest martyrs of Soviet Occupied Poland.

This leads us to be focused on doing God’s will. However, when we go head to head with evil, we seek to do our will and hope our will is God’s will. It does not work that way. We are deceived at that point and we will be conquered by evil.

One of the best parables of this can be found in the end of the third movie (6th chapter) of Star Wars, when Luke is conquering the evil emperor. What does he say? He wants Luke’s hate and anger because he feeds off of it and will be able to defeat Luke if the jedi gives in to his own hate and anger. This is a parable that reflects a spiritual reality.

However, when we focus on Christ and doing his will, then evil is powerless to it. It can seek to tempt us to hate as does the parable of Star Wars, but if we do not give in to it, which is very hard, evil is powerless to defeat us. Evil forces can kill the body, but they can never get their biggest prize which is your soul.

Look at the story of Fr. Maximillian Kolbe- again defeated the NAZI’s at their own game fighting evil by doing the good of sacrificing his life for another and leading his fellow condemned prisoners in songs of joy at their impending admission into Heaven. The NAZI’s got consumed with hate.

It is an intensely difficult practice to engage in, however, it is done by keeping one focused not only on the one we love, who is Christ and doing His will, but also on the extreme horror that is found in those who embrace evil in order to destroy us. They will find themselves in a place of pure horror. Our prayer for our persecutors actually is for the mercy of God to spare them that horror. We know what they don’t. Hell is not a place where we want to go, nor do we want anyone else to go. So we do all we can to prevent it from happening. That is our role as baptized Catholics. That is our call and in order to do it, we need to fight using the tools that defeat the evil that comes from Hell. Those tools are of love.

Jesus’ words are not calls for us to be Polyanna, but to be agents of God in the front lines of the battle against evil. We need to use the right weapons in that battle. Praying for your enemies is a powerful tool that protects us against the wiles of evil that seek to destroy us, but also as weapons in the spiritual battle against all that seeks to destroy all of humanity, especially those of the evil one, the devil, who is powerless against the weapon of love.

Take this week to pray for all your enemies throughout your life and forgive them, cutting all ties of vengeance that you may harbor, that you may be free from the tools that can defeat you in a spiritual battle.

God Bless You,

Fr. Robert J Carr

Fr. Carr is an alliance member of the New Song Community (Canção Nova). He is the pastor of St. Benedict Parish in Somerville, MA and is the editor of this blog.

You may also find his videos in English at Gloria.tv. They will soon also be appearing on the New Song Media website to be unveiled soon.