Prayer for those who hate and offend us as an example of Christian love and forgiveness

All people on the Earth know how to pray. Even those who at the present moment deny the existence of God. Prayers very much. They are spoken daily in hundreds of different languages, but their essence is one - this is a person's appeal to the higher powers.

We will consider in this brief article only one of the prayer petitions - this is a prayer for those who hate us and those who offend us.

Why is this prayer so important in Christianity?

If we turn to the history of mankind, we can see that not all religions of the world call on to pray for the people who abuse us.

This is not even in Judaism, which is built on the pre-Christian dogma. We need to love our friends, but to fear our enemies - Tora tells us. Even Confucius testifies that evil can not be answered by evil, only by justice.

Why does Christ call to love his enemies?

In fact, this contains the key to understanding the Christian dogma, permeated with the motives of love and forgiveness. The ability to forgive your enemies and not remember grievances, moreover, even to wish good to those who offend you, is the key to transforming the human soul, purifying it.

Therefore, in Christianity, there is a belief that if a person knows how to forgive his enemies and pray for them, then the Lord will forgive him for his sins and give him the opportunity to be in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Prayer for those who hate and offend us: what should it be?

There is a text of such a prayer that can be found in any Orthodox prayer-book. This prayer is read at the very end of the morning and evening prayer rules.

However, this does not mean that we can not pray for our enemies in our own words. Moreover, one should pray not only in one's own words, but only when we feel the resentment and irritation in our heart.

It is very important in these moments not to let anger out with bitter and terrible curses or, worse still, with obvious aggression, but simply silently in your soul to pray for the person who speaks evil words to you or acts deeply dishonorably with you.

Inscrutable are the ways of the Lord, perhaps just at this moment, by simply praying for the person who is wronging you, you will save yourself from both bad deed and internal crisis.

Why should we always pray?

Praying is always and everywhere. In general, prayer comforts a person and gives him extraordinary inner strength. Having said the simple words: "Forgive us, Lord, our offenders, send them joy, health, strength of the soul and body" - you seem to overcome your spiritual infirmity and become stronger spiritually man.

After all, hoarding grudges against people is an empty business. As they say, the offended are people who are unhappy, forced to drag the burden of their own problems and grievances all their lives. And those who know how to forgive, on the go, can go through life easily and freely. They do not keep evil on people, the difficult life situation for them, accompanied by disappointments and misfortunes, is nevertheless surmountable, because they see their own shortcomings and try to forgive their neighbors.

Always rejoice and always pray - bequeathed to us by the great saints of the Russian land. And the ability to forgive your enemies and pray for them is one of the most important qualities of every Christian. Therefore, the prayer of those who hate us and those who offend should be the prayer that we repeat every day in our own hearts.

The meaning of this prayer in terms of psychological science

Today, the science of psychology, the object of study of which is the human psyche, largely supplements the conclusions that theology offers us. From the point of view of psychology, the Christian virtue of forgiveness, love for one's enemies allows the person to harmoniously develop, reaching a state that psychologists call self-actualization.

Only this happens not with the help of the potency of the person, but with the help of the support of the divine forces.

Man, as it were, transcends his "I", pushing the horizons of individual existence, receiving satisfaction from some "all-being", to which each of us aspires.

And it does not matter how to read a prayer: out loud, about yourself, or to address it mentally in difficult life situations. The main thing is to just read it and think about how Christ commanded his disciples to forgive offenses and pray for those who harm us.

Bliss of those who follow the path of Christianity

In fact, real Christians are very happy people, they know how to enjoy life, they hope to meet God at the grave, they know how to love and forgive. They know that the ways of the Lord are inscrutable, and even the enemy at some point can become a true friend, repent and be reconciled to us.

Christians are able to believe in miracles, because prayer itself is the most real miracle that gives us the strength to live.

So we will be true Christians, we will believe, pray and love, and also know that in the prayer-book there are wonderful words of forgiveness, which are called "Prayer for those who hate us and offend".

Let us pray and believe in the mercy of God and his holy craft for us!