It is mercy I desireIn loving your enemy, you want him to be your brother. You do not love in him what he is, but what you want him to be. Let us imagine some oak wood that has not been carved. A capabable craftsman sees this wood that has been cut in the forest; he likes the wood.
I do not know what he wants to make out of it, but the artist does not love this wood so that it might remain as it is. His art lets him see what the wood can become. He does not love the rough wood; he loves what he will make of it, not the rough wood.
That is how God loved us when we were sinners. For he said: People who are in good health do not need a doctor; sick people do. Did he love us sinners so that we might remain sinners? The craftsman saw us like a piece of rough wood coming from the forest, and what he had in mind was the work he would draw from there, not the wood from the forest.
It is the same with you: you see your enemy who opposes you, who overwhelms you with scathing words, who is harsh in his insults, who pursues you with his hatred. But you are attentive to the fact that he is a human being. You see everything that this person did against you, and you see in him that he was created by God. What he is as a human being is Gods work; the hatred he bears towards you is his own work. And what do you say to yourself? Lord, be kind to him, forgive his sins, inspire him with fear of you, change him. In this person, you do not love what he is, but what you want him to be. Thus, when you love your enemy, you love a brother.
-Saint Augustine of Hippo
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