Bless my enemies, O Lord.
Even I bless them and do not
curse them.
Enemies have driven me into
Your embrace more than friends have.
Friends have bound me to earth,
enemies have loosed me from earth and have demolished
all my aspirations in the world.
Enemies have made me a stranger
in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world.
Just as a hunted animal finds
safer shelter than an unhunted animal does,
so have I, persecuted by
enemies, found the safest sanctuary,
having ensconced myself beneath
Your tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul.
Bless my enemies, O Lord.
Even I bless them and do not
curse them.
They, rather than I, have confessed my sins before the world.
They have punished me, whenever I have hesitated to punish myself
They have tormented me, whenever I have tried to flee torments.
They have scolded me, whenever I have flattered myself
They have spat upon me, whenever I have filled myself with arrogance.
Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
Whenever I have made myself wise, they have called me foolish.
Whenever I have made myself mighty, they have mocked me as though I were a
dwarf.
Whenever I have wanted to lead people, they have shoved me into the
background.
Whenever I have rushed to enrich myself, they have prevented me with an
iron hand.
Whenever I thought that I would sleep peacefully, they have wakened me
from sleep.
Whenever I have tried to build a home for a long and tranquil life, they
have demolished it and driven me out.
Truly, enemies have cut me loose from the world and have stretched out my
hands to the hem of Your garment.
Bless my enemies, O Lord.
Even I bless them and do not
curse them.
Bless them and multiply them; multiply them and make them even more
bitterly against me:
so that my fleeing to You may have no return;
so that all hope in men may be scattered like cobwebs;
so that absolute serenity may begin to reign in my soul;
so that my heart may become the grave of my two evil twins: arrogance and
anger;
so that I might amass all my treasure in heaven;
ah, so that I may for once be freed from self-deception, which has
entangled me in the dreadful web of illusory life.
Enemies have taught me to know what hardly anyone knows,
that a person has no enemies in
the world except himself.
One hates his enemies only when
he fails to realize that they are not enemies, but cruel friends.
It is truly difficult for me to
say who has done me more good and who has done me more evil in the world:
friends or enemies.
Therefore bless, O Lord, both
my friends and my enemies.
A slave curses enemies, for he
does not understand.
But a son blesses them, for he
understands.
For a son knows that his
enemies cannot touch his life.
Therefore he freely steps among
them and prays to God for them.
Bless my enemies, O Lord.
Even I bless them and do not
curse them.
(St. Nikolai
Velimirovic, was a Twentieth Century Serbian Orthodox bishop who opposed
Nazism and was eventually taken to Dachau).
Translated
by http://fi.babelfish.yahoo.com
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