I don't know about you, but I've been fortunate to have few people I would consider "enemies." By enemy, I mean someone who is out to do me personal harm.

I can think of one situation, at a company I once worked for, when it seemed clear that one of my co-workers was trying to ensure that I failed at my job. My success would make this person's job expendable, and so my co-worker tried to undermine my success. I developed a lot of strong feelings toward this person. Love was not one of them.

"To you who hear me, I say: Love your enemies," Jesus tells his disciples. "Do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you and pray for those who maltreat you."

Prior to the experience I just mentioned, I used to think this teaching was a lovely idea. Love your enemies. Pray for those maltreat you. It sounds very nice when you don't have any enemies standing at your door, seeking your harm. I couldn't love my enemy when only my job was at stake; what if my life or family was at stake?

The Catholic Church in the United States has endured a series of horrific scandals over the past decade --- sexual abuse by priests, subsequent cover-ups, criminal prosecutions, and civil settlements have shattered lives and communities. The scandals have also either generated or exposed virulent attacks on the Catholic Church as a whole.

In the parish I attend, a decades-old complaint about our pastor has resurfaced in the press, and people from around the state and nation have written to our newspaper, accusing not only our pastor but also our entire community of conceit and neglect. We often feel that we are being attacked simply for being Catholic. What does it mean to love those that we perceive to be our enemies?

I'm not a very good person to ask. My inclination is to be defensive and to combat attacks with counter attacks. But Jesus calls us to behave differently. Why? So that "You shall rightly be called sons of the Most High, since he himself is good to the ungrateful and the wicked." Jesus calls us to follow him, to be like him who loved his enemies to the death.

As we prepare for Lent, this is an important message for me. It has often been said that it wasn't nails that held Jesus to the cross, but love. Jesus died for the ungrateful and the wicked --- people like me. I am called to do likewise --- to love those who continue to resist God's love.

As we make our plans for Lent, perhaps this year I can do more than give up sweets or dessert. Rather than give up a favorite food, I will try this year to give up a cherished vice --- the inclination for revenge and self-protection. I will try to love my enemies, to pray for those who seem opposed to our church and our ministries --- to be a genuine "Son of the Most High," who is good to the ungrateful and the wicked.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa.