Let's face it. There isn't much that is more difficult than praying for someone who you feel like deserves a shovel to the head. I get it.
Here's the bad news. We are not only not permitted to serve them with the shovel to the head but we are commanded to pray for them. This is true even if we have to suppress our vomit reflex in order to do so.
Jesus did not command that we go to the movies with them but he demanded that we love them and pray for them.
Um.... Love them?
Jesus is asking a bit much here isn't He? The mere mention of X fills me with rage. The mere site of X makes me feel like throwing up.
Jesus didn't say you had to like it. He said you have to do it.
Love is not a feeling; it is an act of the will. In this act of sacrifice, we are making an act of faith in Christ's declaration that what we do to the least of these we do unto Him. Further, it shows that we have ears to hear His warnings that those who show mercy will be shown mercy and that the measure by which we measure will be measured out against us.
Nothing could wound the heart of Our Lord more than our desire for vengeance and retribution suffocating our desire for conversion and salvation.
Nothing pleads to God for mercy for we undeserving persons than when we, ourselves, plead for mercy for those who do not deserve it.
At that moment, we are most like Jesus who cried out on our behalf: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
Pray for those you least want to pray for if you really want to break the chains of bondage.
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