Love everyone.

Love everyone.

It's just two words and seems easy enough right? I think in today's world, loving everyone is probably one of the hardest things to do.

Why should we love everyone?

Why should we love those who have hurt us?

Why should we love those who disrespect us?

Why should we love those who clearly don't love us back?

Because Jesus did.

Jesus was hurt by people immensely more than most of us have ever. I took a moment to think about the most hurtful things people have ever done or said to me and it does not come close to what Jesus went through. 

Jesus was beaten, betrayed, and denied. 

Yet, he forgave and loved those who hurt him. 

We are an extremely selfish population. We always want to know what is in it for us. I know that personally, there have been times where I have failed to forgive and love others because there was nothing in it for me. Because I knew at the end of the day, that person was going to say something mean and rude about me. I didn't want to give my love to someone if they were not going to reciprocate it back. It took me a very long time to realize that's not what its about. 

By no means is loving everyone easy. It is undeniably a hard task to do, but just because something is hard does not mean we shouldn't strive for it. This past year I struggled immensely to love another person. They had hurt me, a lot, and I knew they were going to keep hurting me so I did not want to forgive and love. I went to confession and explained this to Fr. He simply smiled and said, "Katty, you have to forgive them. Whenever its hard for you to love them, remember that God loves them immensely, and God sees the good in them, even if you can't see that right now." Well that certainly felt like a slap in the face. Here I was, thinking I knew everything, when I clearly don't. If God can love everyone, Why the heck can't I? 

The only thing stopping us from loving everyone is ourselves.