{"id":1138,"date":"2014-06-16T14:39:53","date_gmt":"2014-06-16T19:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?p=1138"},"modified":"2015-06-19T19:06:59","modified_gmt":"2015-06-20T00:06:59","slug":"f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/","title":{"rendered":"F-Minus Christianity: Loving My Enemies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Christianity, I remind myself, is an aspirational religion. \u00a0I usually get to pray the daily Mass readings in the morning (preferred location: outdoors), or at daily Mass, or both. \u00a0Today was one of those special days when a confluence of laziness, fatigue, and good fortune conspired to make me miss out on both go-rounds.<\/p>\n

But all was not lost! 16th of the month means I\u2019d already read and reflected on the Gospel for your CatholicMom.com meditational pleasure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like prepaid holiness.<\/p>\n

It turns out I didn\u2019t much like what I read:<\/p>\n

This Gospel passage is foreign to me. Not foreign as in, \u201cdelicious French baguettes still warm from the bakery!\u201d Foreign as in, \u201cLet\u2019s have sea worms for dinner!\u201d It doesn\u2019t beckon me to some wonderful land. It beckons me to a strange, scary place I don\u2019t want to go.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Topic is loving one\u2019s enemies, and if you doubt the seriousness of that admonition, read the Old Testament selection for today that sets the stage<\/a>. \u00a0Hence I reject the Tame Jesus smoothing over of our Lord\u2019s firm words:<\/p>\n

I have heard people \u2013 wise, learned, holy people \u2013 tame this passage. The tame version is difficult enough: Pray for your enemies, keep an even temper, look for that creative third way to resolve conflicts. If I manage even the domesticated version of this Gospel, that\u2019s a pretty big day for me, spiritually speaking.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And since even Tame Jesus is more holiness than I usually manage, what hope for junior Christians like you and me? \u00a0Read the whole thing and find out<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"File:Circus<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0By Gibson & Co., publisher [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christianity, I remind myself, is an aspirational religion. \u00a0I usually get to pray the daily Mass readings in the morning (preferred location: outdoors), or at daily Mass, or both. \u00a0Today was one of those special days when a confluence of laziness, fatigue, and good fortune conspired to make me miss out on both go-rounds. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,7,51,6,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catechesis-2","category-evangelization","category-forgiveness","category-stick-that-corner","category-suffering"],"yoast_head":"\nF-Minus Christianity: Loving My Enemies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Christianity, I remind myself, is an aspirational religion. \u00a0I usually get to pray the daily Mass readings in the morning (preferred location: outdoors),\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"F-Minus Christianity: Loving My Enemies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christianity, I remind myself, is an aspirational religion. \u00a0I usually get to pray the daily Mass readings in the morning (preferred location: outdoors),\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sticking the Corners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-16T19:39:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-20T00:06:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/d\/d0\/Circus_Lion_Tamer.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Fitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Jennifer_Fitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Fitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/\",\"name\":\"F-Minus Christianity: Loving My Enemies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-16T19:39:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-20T00:06:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3\"},\"description\":\"Christianity, I remind myself, is an aspirational religion. \u00a0I usually get to pray the daily Mass readings in the morning (preferred location: outdoors),\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"F-Minus Christianity: Loving My Enemies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/\",\"name\":\"Sticking the Corners\",\"description\":\"Live it like you mean it.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Fitz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jennifer Fitz\"},\"description\":\"Jennifer Fitz is the mother of four fantabulous children, and author of Classroom Management for Catechists. She writes online for Patheos and for the Catholic Conspiracy. When she isn't blogging, teaching, or complaining about something, she likes to play outside.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jennifer_Fitz\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/author\/jenniferfitz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"F-Minus Christianity: Loving My Enemies","description":"Christianity, I remind myself, is an aspirational religion. \u00a0I usually get to pray the daily Mass readings in the morning (preferred location: outdoors),","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"F-Minus Christianity: Loving My Enemies","og_description":"Christianity, I remind myself, is an aspirational religion. \u00a0I usually get to pray the daily Mass readings in the morning (preferred location: outdoors),","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/","og_site_name":"Sticking the Corners","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/","article_published_time":"2014-06-16T19:39:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-06-20T00:06:59+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/d\/d0\/Circus_Lion_Tamer.jpg"}],"author":"Jennifer Fitz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Jennifer_Fitz","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jennifer Fitz","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/","name":"F-Minus Christianity: Loving My Enemies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-06-16T19:39:53+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-20T00:06:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3"},"description":"Christianity, I remind myself, is an aspirational religion. \u00a0I usually get to pray the daily Mass readings in the morning (preferred location: outdoors),","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/f-minus-christianity-loving-my-enemies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"F-Minus Christianity: Loving My Enemies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/","name":"Sticking the Corners","description":"Live it like you mean it.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3","name":"Jennifer Fitz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jennifer Fitz"},"description":"Jennifer Fitz is the mother of four fantabulous children, and author of Classroom Management for Catechists. She writes online for Patheos and for the Catholic Conspiracy. When she isn't blogging, teaching, or complaining about something, she likes to play outside.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jennifer_Fitz"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/author\/jenniferfitz\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}