Whether We Ought to Pray for Our Enemies?
Objection 1: It would seem that we ought not to pray for our enemies.
According to Rom. 15:4, "what things soever were written, were
written for our learning." Now Holy Writ contains many imprecations
against enemies; thus it is written (Ps. 6:11): "Let all my enemies
be ashamed and be . . . troubled, let them be ashamed and be troubled
very speedily [*Vulg.: 'Let them be turned back and be ashamed.']."
Therefore we too should pray against rather than for our enemies.
Obj. 2: Further, to be revenged on one's enemies is harmful to them.
But holy men seek vengeance of their enemies according to Apoc. 6:10,
"How long . . . dost Thou not . . . revenge our blood on them that
dwell on earth?" Wherefore they rejoice in being revenged on their
enemies, according to Ps. 57:11, "The just shall rejoice when he
shall see the revenge." Therefore we should not pray for our enemies,
but against them.
Obj. 3: Further, man's deed should not be contrary to his prayer. Now
sometimes men lawfully attack their enemies, else all wars would be
unlawful, which is opposed to what we have said above (Q. 40, A. 1).
Therefore we should not pray for our enemies.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Matt. 5:44): "Pray for them that
persecute and calumniate you."
_I answer that,_ To pray for another is an act of charity, as stated
above (A. 7). Wherefore we are bound to pray for our enemies in the
same manner as we are bound to love them. Now it was explained above
in the treatise on charity (Q. 25, AA. 8, 9), how we are bound to
love our enemies, namely, that we must love in them their nature, not
their sin, and that to love our enemies in general is a matter of
precept, while to love them in the individual is not a matter of
precept, except in the preparedness of the mind, so that a man must
be prepared to love his enemy even in the individual and to help him
in a case of necessity, or if his enemy should beg his forgiveness.
But to love one's enemies absolutely in the individual, and to assist
them, is an act of perfection.
In like manner it is a matter of obligation that we should not
exclude our enemies from the general prayers which we offer up for
others: but it is a matter of perfection, and not of obligation, to
pray for them individually, except in certain special cases.
Reply Obj. 1: The imprecations contained in Holy Writ may be
understood in four ways. First, according to the custom of the
prophets "to foretell the future under the veil of an imprecation,"
as Augustine states [*De Serm. Dom. in Monte i, 21]. Secondly, in the
sense that certain temporal evils are sometimes inflicted by God on
the wicked for their correction. Thirdly, because they are understood
to be pronounced, not against the men themselves, but against the
kingdom of sin, with the purpose, to wit, of destroying sin by the
correction of men. Fourthly, by way of conformity of our will to the
Divine justice with regard to the damnation of those who are
obstinate in sin.
Reply Obj. 2: As Augustine states in the same book (De Serm. Dom. in
Monte i, 22), "the martyrs' vengeance is the overthrow of the kingdom
of sin, because they suffered so much while it reigned": or as he
says again (QQ. Vet. et Nov. Test. lxviii), "their prayer for
vengeance is expressed not in words but in their minds, even as the
blood of Abel cried from the earth." They rejoice in vengeance not
for its own sake, but for the sake of Divine justice.
Reply Obj. 3: It is lawful to attack one's enemies, that they may be
restrained from sin: and this is for their own good and for the good
of others. Consequently it is even lawful in praying to ask that
temporal evils be inflicted on our enemies in order that they may
mend their ways. Thus prayer and deed will not be contrary to one
another.
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