“And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.”
Do to others as you would have them do to you — the Golden Rule is the positive formulation of the reciprocity principle — but applied to the treatment of others rather than the expectation of what others will do to you. Do to others: the initiative is yours, not a response to how others treat you. As you would have them do to you: the standard is the treatment you desire, not the treatment you receive.
Church Fathers on Luke 6:31
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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