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Tuesday of the Eleventh week in Ordinary Time

Commentary of the day
Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), Founder of the Friars Minor
Earlier Rule, §22 (©Classics of Western spirituality)

"But I say to you, love your enemies"

Let us pay attention, all my brothers, to what the Lord says: “Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you,” for our Lord Jesus Christ, Whose footprints we must follow (cf. 1Pt 2,21), called His betrayer "friend" (Mt 26,50) and gave Himself willingly to those who crucified Him. Our friends, then, are all those who unjustly afflict upon us trials and ordeals, shame and injuries, sorrows and torments, martyrdom and death. We must love them greatly for we will possess eternal life because of what they bring upon us.

'How much did the saints do to secure their eternal salvation! How many nobles and kings have forsaken their kingdoms and estates, and shut themselves up in cloisters! How many young persons have forsaken their country and friends, and have dwelt in caves and deserts! And how many martyrs have laid down their lives under the most cruel tortures! And why? to save their souls. And what have we done?'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori