Are there people in your life you have considered to be your enemies? If so, how have dealt with them?

If Christianity had to be boiled down to one word, a leading contender would be unity. We celebrate “one Lord, one faith, one Baptism.” Of the four special marks of the church, the list of “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic” begins with our fundamental oneness.

“I hate myself,” I heard my daughter say. “I’m so stupid!” She was struggling with a school project, and it was not coming together as she had hoped. Maybe she got a late start or procrastinated on gathering some of the elements.

Dolores looked out her kitchen window at the fourplex across the street. She could tell by the beat-up cars in the driveway and the sounds of frequent arguing that the young couples with children living there were stressed both financially and emotionally.

As we ponder the harder teaching of loving our enemies, we ask God to give us strength to respond to wickedness with love.

The highest wisdom is kindness.