Jesus told us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. He forgave those who were persecuting him as he was dying on the cross. But should we stop there? As Christ was dying on the cross, he not only forgave his persecutors, but he also was offering expiation for their sins on their behalf. Christ did not just pray for his persecutors, but he also conquered their death and loved at least some of them into heaven.
We cannot redeem like Christ can, but we can still, as St. Paul writes, make up for what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ by bearing our sufferings patiently. We can offer Christ’s body and blood on their behalf when we receive him in the Eucharist.
If I received one grace out of this semester, it is this. Towards the end of the semester, I had an imagining about someone who hates me reaching heaven and having Christ ask them to account for his or her sins (for short, we’ll use ‘his’). Jesus lists his sins against me, for which the individual is sorry. Jesus then says to him, “normally sins of this sort require a fair amount of time in purgatory to pay your debt for these sins; but that debt was already paid for you: Paul has already paid your debt for you.”
I have thus taken up the devotion of offering sacrifice and penance for those who hate me. My hope is to love my persecutors into heaven even as their actions against me speak to condemn them. I hope to remove the last traces of bitterness from my soul. I hope to love my enemies so much that Christ has no choice but to overlook my other faults on my judgment day.
