what to do with haters

St John Cassian tells us today about pitying those who persecute us in A Year with the Church Fathers.

He says rather pointedly that if we are closer to Jesus, we will forgive and love those who hurt us. And if we don't pity and love them, we still have sin in our lives that needs to be purged.

That's not an easy task, right? But again, I think that focusing our minds on how amazing God is will help us here. When we see how incredibly generous He is in our lives... when we allow our minds to be overwhelmed with the blessings He heaps on all of us every day... then we in joyful gratitude can turn our eyes to those who have hurt us in some way (even if it means persecuting us to the point of death) and grant them the forgiveness that He has so graciously and freely given us.

God, please help us to fix our eyes on Your amazing generosity... so we can in turn be generous to those who need You.