“Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.”
Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back — the give to everyone who asks and do not demand back what is taken are the economic expressions of the love-of-enemies ethic. The standard of giving is not proportionality or reciprocity but generosity beyond calculation.
Church Fathers on Luke 6:30
Having spoken above of what they might suffer from their enemies, He now points out how they ought to conduct themselves towards their enemies’ saying, But I say to you who hear.
Having proceeded in the enumeration of many heavenly actions, He not unwisely comes to this place last, that He might teach the people confirmed by the divine miracles to march onward in the footsteps of virtue beyond the path of the law. Lastly, among the three greatest, (hope, faith, and charity,) the greatest is charity, which is commanded in these words, Love your enemies.
It is indeed the part of an enemy to injure and be treacherous. Every one then who does harm in any way to any one is called his enemy.
Read all 18 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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