The recent news that Mr Christopher Hitchens is suffering from cancer, and the response of good Catholics to this news, has set me thinking about Christ's admonishment to love even our enemies. This teaching by Christ is recorded by both Saints Matthew and Luke. The Gospel according to Saint Matthew has this passage (Mt 5:43-48):

You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? do not also the heathens this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.

This passage is set in the midst of Christ's Sermon of the Mount, and it tells us that as Christians we are called to love all people, friend and enemy alike. For our fellow men are not ultimately our real enemies, though some of them may be made to serve the Enemy. We are told to love our enemies, but what does this love, this charity, indeed this agape demand of us?

In the preceding passage, Christ outlines some of our duties in a more detailed manner:

You have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you not to resist evil [done against you]: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other: And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him. And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him other two, Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away (Matthew 5:38-42).

It is worth noting, though, that this is not necessarily an endorsement of pacifism. A priest once informed me (and the others in his congregation) that there is some passive resistance implied in these passages. For example, in the Jewish culture it was considered dishonorable to be seen with a naked person in public (hence, by giving the cloak, the man of whom the coat is demanded would be shaming the man who demanded it); and similarly, in their culture it was proper only to strike with the right hand, so by turning the other cheek, the party being struck would be making the striking more difficult, indeed would be shaming the person doing the striking, should he strike again.

Ok, but this is not really the core of the passage "love thy enemies." These are all negative acts, in as much as they do not involve active retaliation. Loving is not a passive thing, but an active thing, so it does not strike me that this passage is really advice for how best to love one's enemy. Indeed, all of these things can be done while harboring a hatred and a loathing which shuts out charity. Similarly can a man strike another person while still loving that person (e.g. a father who out of love strikes his son as a form of disciplinary punishment; see Proverbs 13:24).

It does not strike me that "loving our enemies" means not defending ourselves from them, be it physically (as in a just war, or self defense) nor intellectually (as happens in apologetics). What then, is the difference between loving our enemies and hating them? Christ Himself answers this by saying, "pray for them that persecute and calumniate you." This is precisely the response of good Catholics to Mr Christopher Hitchens. It should similiarly be the response towards our other detractors, Professors Dawkins, Meyers, and Weinberg; or Dr Sam Harris, to name a few. Similarly for the Muhammedans, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the anti-Catholics amongst the other Christian communities, communions, denominations, and sects.

Louis de Wohl had another way of putting this. In his novel The Last Crusader: A Novel about Don Juan of Austria, the character Juan Galarza says to the future Don Juan of Austria, "Well, there are some who may think differently, but I always feel sorry when I have to split a Christian skull. How do I know that the fellow doesn't die with a mortal sin on his soul?" Note that this quote is in the context of a War between Spain and France. Galarza's advice may seem contrary to Christian charity, especially as it is understood in the twenty first century; on the other hand, this was in accordance with charity understood through the lens of just war theory, for in a war the two sides are trying to kill each other.

Yet, even in the physical warfare, a fight to the death, charity may be expressed at the very least with a desire that the men fighting for the other side will die with a clean conscience, will die in a state of grace and thus enter into paradise. It is from this genuine hope that charity may spring forth, and thus may prayers be said for our "enemies," that they will have a conversion of heart, and that when they die it will be in a state of grace. Though they may be unbearable in this life, it should still be our hope to be friends in the next life, and to share eternity with them in heaven. The one thing worse than enmity in this life is enmity in the next, for hatred of anything which is not evil shall not be given a place in heaven, and indeed those things which are cast out of heaven may be forgotten.

To truly hate a person is to make that person a barrier against our own entry into heaven, even if that person is himself excluded. If the person causes us misery in this life, how much worse would that misery be for be he and me if we end spending our lives together in hell, unforgiven by each other, unpardonable by God? Our greatest desire for our enemies should be that they may one day be our friends, even if only in the next life. This desire ultimately means that we must hope that we and they both granted salvation and eternal joy, for just as all friendships must cease in hell, so too must all enmities cease in heaven. Thus, it is fitting that while we pray for our own salvation, and for the salvation of our friends, we must also do so for our enemies, and pray for ultimate reconciliation with them. The basis of loving our enemies is not capitulation to them, neither by surrendering our Faith nor our morals, nor to join them as traitors to our own; rather, it is primarily prayer for them, prayer for a conversion of heart, and for their salvation, prayer ultimately for our reconciliation and friendship with them.

Fight them we must, but condemn them we must not. As it is said in The Prayer of Saint Francis, "It is in pardoning that we are pardoned." Similarly, in willing the condemnation of each other to final damnation, we may find ourselves condemned. Let us therefore will--and pray for--the salvation of our enemies as of our friends and ourselves.