“If you had a very good friend who would come to you on a particularly cold night and ask to borrow your jacket, would you give it to that friend? It’s doubtful that there is anyone who would not lend a very good friend the very coat off his or her back!
But now, what if it were a stranger whom you had never met before? There may be some generous souls who would even give a spare jacket to a stranger.
And now the big question: what if it was someone who you know despises you? Would you give that person your jacket, or even a spare jacket, or even an old jacket, if that person asked?
Jesus sets a very high standard. Jesus says we should treat even our enemies the way we would treat our very best friends. Who knows? Maybe this is His way of telling us how to make friends of enemies.”
Gary Lauenstein in The Redemptorists of the Denver Province email on 13 September 2012.