Friends And Enemies

Positis genibus clamavit dicens: ne statuas illis hoc peccatum. Videte, dilectissimi fratres, affectum beati viri; videte magnam et admirabilem caritatem. In persecutione positus erat, et pro persecutoribus supplicabat, atque in illa lapidum ruina, quando alius oblivisci poterat etiam carissimos suos, ille Domino commendabat inimicos. Quod enim dicebat, cum lapidaretur? Domine, ne statuas illis hoc peccatum. Plus itaque tunc illorum dolebat peccata quam sua vulnera, plus illorum impietatem quam suam mortem; et recte plus. In illorum quippe iniquitate erant multa quae plangi, in illius autem morte non erat quod debuisset doleri; illorum impietatem mors sequebatur aeterna, hujus autem mortem vita perpetua. Imitemur ergo in aliquo, dilectissimi fratres, tanti magistri fidem, tam praeclari martyris caritatem; diligamus nos hoc animo in Ecclesia fratres nostros, quo ille tunc dilexit inimicos suos. Sed quod pejus est aliquoties non solum inimicos non diligmus, nec amicis quidem fidem integram custodimus. Sanctus Maximus Taurinensis, Homilia LXIV Source: Migne PL 57.381a-b

'And on his knees he called out saying, Do not hold this sin against them.' 1 See, dearest brothers, the state of the blessed man, see his great and admirable love. In persecution he was placed, and for his persecutors he prayed, and in that rain of stones, when other would have forgotten even their dearest ones, he commended his enemies to the Lord. For what did he say when he was stoned? 'O Lord, do not hold this sin against them.' Thus he groaned more for their sins than for his own wounds, more for their impiety than his own death, and rightly more. For in their iniquity there was much to lament and in his death there was nothing to grieve, since eternal death followed upon their impiety and eternal life his death. Let us imitate in some way, dearest brothers, the faith of such a teacher, the love of this glorious martyr; let us love in our souls our brothers in the Church as he loved his enemies. For what is much worse  is not only that we do not love our enemies,  but that neither do we keep faith with friends. Saint Maximus of Turin, from Homily 64 1 Acts 7.59