Therefore we should not pray for our enemies.

_On the contrary,_ It is written (Matt. 5:44): "Pray for them that
persecute and calumniate you."

_I answer that,_ To pray for another is an act of charity, as stated
above (A. 7). Wherefore we are bound to pray for our enemies in the
same manner as we are bound to love them. Now it was explained above
in the treatise on charity (Q. 25, AA. 8, 9), how we are bound to
love our enemies, namely, that we must love in them their nature, not
their sin, and that to love our enemies in general is a matter of
precept, while to love them in the individual is not a matter of
precept, except in the preparedness of the mind, so that a man must
be prepared to love his enemy even in the individual and to help him
in a case of necessity, or if his enemy should beg his forgiveness.
But to love one's enemies absolutely in the individual, and to assist
them, is an act of perfection.

In like manner it is a matter of obligation that we should not
exclude our enemies from the general prayers which we offer up for
others: but it is a matter of perfection, and not of obligation, to
pray for them individually, except in certain special cases.

Reply Obj. 1: The imprecations contained in Holy Writ may be
understood in four ways. First, according to the custom of the
prophets "to foretell the future under the veil of an imprecation,"
as Augustine states [*De Serm. Dom. in Monte i, 21]. Secondly, in the
sense that certain temporal evils are sometimes inflicted by God on
the wicked for their correction. Thirdly, because they are understood
to be pronounced, not against the men themselves, but against the
kingdom of sin, with the purpose, to wit, of destroying sin by the
correction of men. Fourthly, by way of conformity of our will to the
Divine justice with regard to the damnation of those who are
obstinate in sin.

Reply Obj. 2: As Augustine states in the same book (De Serm. Dom. in
Monte i, 22), "the martyrs' vengeance is the overthrow of the kingdom
of sin, because they suffered so much while it reigned": or as he
says again (QQ. Vet. et Nov. Test. lxviii), "their prayer for
vengeance is expressed not in words but in their minds, even as the
blood of Abel cried from the earth." They rejoice in vengeance not
for its own sake, but for the sake of Divine justice.

Reply Obj. 3: It is lawful to attack one's enemies, that they may be
restrained from sin: and this is for their own good and for t