Love Your Enemies--whether you like them or not

Mark Shea has often observed that the scandal of Roman Catholic Christianity is not the Church's doctrine on sex but its teaching on Mercy. Judging from this reflection posted by Julie from Happy Catholic, St. Augustine might agree:

That your enemies have been created is God's doing: that they hate you and wish to ruin you is their own doing. What should you say about them in your mind? "Lord be merciful to them...

This is one of the greatest reasons why the Reasonable shake their heads at the Fools. Who could understand? Christ is, after all, "a stumbling block to Jews and nonsense to Gentiles."

Yet, this is Christ's commandment to us. It's also the example he lived--from the cross, no less.

Live mercy. Nothing more. Nothing less.