This attitude is in answer to the commandments of Christ

[Mary Naeem]

The twenty-third step is to wish them and do them good . This attitude is in answer to the commandments of Christ: “bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you” (Mt 5:44; cf Lk 6:27-28); “But love ye your enemies and do good” (Lk 6:35); “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Lk 6:31), commandments repeated by the Apostle: “Bless them which persecute you, bless and curse not” (Rom 12:14), “Provide things honest in the sight of all men” (Rom 12:17); “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink” (Rom 12:20). In their behavior the Apostles show this attitude: “being reviled, we bless” (I Cor 4:12). When a man who was being ill-treated asked him how to act, St. John of Gaza had only one answer: “Do good to him.” St. Isaac advises: “Show the greatness of your compassion by rendering good to those who were unjust to you” and he writes that “it is a great thing to do good to sinners more than to the just.” St. Maximus teaches that one only loves when one is able to “return naturally good for evil” and that “to be capable of doing good to those who hate us is only given to perfect spiritual love.” Love does not only consist of doing good to our enemies, but also in thinking well of them .