On Jesus’ prayer for his enemies
On Jesus’ prayer for his enemies
LORD JESUS CHRIST, Fountain of holiness and sweetness, I bless and thank you for your abundant love and heartfelt prayer for your enemies and for those crucifying you. With hands outstretched on the Cross, you pleaded for them, asking that they be pardoned, and you generously excused their transgressions, saying: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.1 Indeed, these are words, full of grace and sweetness, capable of softening the hard heart of any sinner and of moving him to repentance!
O sweet Jesus, how inclined you are to forgive, how easily appeased, and how eager to show mercy. Great and boundless is your kindness, Lord, to all who love you; you likewise manifested that same loving kindness toward your enemies. Hanging high on your Cross you were not moved by any bitterness against those crucifying you, nor did you seek vengeance on those tormenting you. You did not pray for the earth to swallow them up, or for fire to come down from heaven and consume them that very instant. Rather, like a welcome rain, you uttered sweet and loving words on behalf of your cruel tormentors, saying: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
These words reveal your most excellent love as well as your indescribable meekness, qualities that could never be obliterated in you. Nor were you held back from uttering a prayer. Your executioners shouted: Crucify! Crucify!2 and you responded with the words: Father, forgive them. They drove rough nails into your body and you offered excuses for their unheard-of wickedness, saying: They know not what they do. O Christ, how wonderful is your love!
The perversity of such obstinate men, incapable of being moved to repentance by such loving words! You grieved more because of their blindness with regard to the evil they were doing than for the injuries done you. The heinousness of their actions pained you more than all the wounds they inflicted on you. They abused you as much as they could, and in return you rendered them whatever good you were capable of showing them. The most generous and best thing you could do for so wicked a group of men was to pray that they turn from their malicious deeds and acknowledge you as God’s true Son, who came in the flesh. In this way Isaiah’s memorable words, spoken of you in years gone by, were fulfilled: And he bore the sins of many and has prayed for his transgressors3 that they may not perish.
Who of us can now despair about not having his sins forgiven, when they, who crucified the Dispenser of pardon, experienced such abounding kindness? My soul, though you may be guilty of many crimes, do not despair. You may be caught in the web of your evil passions and may be subject to many severe temptations, nevertheless, disheartened one, you still have the hope of life. The bowels of mercy are available to you, and the Cross, nails, lance, and Jesus’ many blood-covered wounds are witnesses of that mercy.
Penetrate deeply into the five sacred wounds of the Crucified, kiss his other wounds, cling to the tree of life with loving arms, and hold fast to Jesus hanging on his Cross, for he is the certain pledge of our salvation. Worship him devoutly, commit yourself to him with full faith, and abandon yourself completely into his hands. Since he had shown himself to be good and merciful to his enemies, then he will certainly be more gracious to one who sorrows over his sins.
If you, however, wish your prayer to be heard the sooner, and if you desire to win your Redeemer’s grace and obtain the fullness of his mercy, then from the depths of your heart forgive your brother for whatever he has done against you. Forgive him in small matters so that God may forgive you your more serious offenses, and pray for his salvation in the same way as you pray for your own. You will find grace and, by imitating the example of Jesus, who orders us to love our enemies and to pray for our persecutors, you will become the child of the Most High.
If you train yourself to forgive all injuries done you, even though you suffer them unjustly, and to pray for those who have wronged you, then you have gained for yourself at the hour of your death a confident hope. Such holy prayer for one’s enemies has won eternal blessedness for the apostles, has glorified the martyrs, ennobled the confessors, adorned the virgins, and made all the saints like unto Christ and deserving of eternal life.
Most gracious Lord Jesus, I ask you, who in your vast love deigned to pray for your enemies, to pray with that same love for me to the Father that he grant me full pardon for all my sins and mercifully free me from the punishment I deserve for them. Grant me a firm and abiding trust in your love, that I yield not to despair because of the greatness of my sins, rather that I remember that you have come into this world to save sinners and that it was your will to suffer, to be crucified, and to die for the sinful.
Therefore, may your prayer on the Cross, uttered on behalf of your enemies, be also for my soul’s salvation, and may it grant me great hope of pardon, which, through your most holy intercession, I may be judged worthy of receiving, for in no way can I obtain it on my own merits. Grant that I may freely and safely find refuge under the shadow of your wings and may the standard of your holy and invincible Cross protect me from all fear of the age-old enemy.
As I cling to your Cross, I beseech you to stretch out the branches of your arms over me, for at whatever hour my poor and sorrowful soul may be called from this world, grant that it be free of fear and know not despair, and that you receive me, poor sinner, for I rely totally on your mercy and not on my own accomplishments.