In the latest episode of Secrets of the Silent Witch, Monica Everett does something radical: She loves her enemy. And it doesn’t quite look like what you might expect. As followers of Jesus, we too are called to embody so radical a love, but honestly, it can be hard to know how to begin, or even what love for our enemies is meant to look like. This is why Monica’s actions in this episode are so powerful: She gives us a simple, straightforward way to start walking the radical path Jesus set before us, the path to being perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. Let’s get started!

Before we begin, though, we need to deal with the elephant in the room. What even is an enemy? Outside of a military context or a sermon on spiritual warfare, isn’t “enemy” a bit of an archaic term? We don’t go around in our daily lives talking about all the enemies we have, after all. So who was Jesus talking about in his Sermon on the Mount? Who is an enemy? 

Enemies are more common than we might think. This is because, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, an enemy is simply “a person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.” It can be personal, but it doesn’t have to be; we can get caught up in an “enemy” dynamic without even realizing it. Sometimes, others make themselves our enemies through their words and deeds; they offend and dishonor, abuse, oppress and injure us or those we care about, or trample on our ideals or way of life. Sometimes, we fashion others into our enemies by judging them to be so already, and we reject or provoke them until they act like it, too; in acting like an enemy, we make more of them. Sometimes, someone we trust or admire tells us who our enemies are, and we believe them. Sadly, we all have people we oppose in life, or those who oppose us. We all have enemies.  

For Monica Everett, her enemy comes to be through the worst possible way: Through the betrayal of a dear friend, Bernie, who, out of jealousy for her success, judges and rejects Monica as his enemy. When the two are reunited, it is clear that the fires of resentment still burn strongly in the boy, and he takes his enmity to the next level, seeking to provoke Monica and alienate her from her new friends. He sets himself up to oppose her in every way he can. He’s a real piece of work.

Matters come to a head when Bernie isolates and taunts Monica with the threat of exposing her identity (she’s working undercover). Fortunately, Lana intervenes, standing by Monica’s side and shielding her shy friend from the verbal onslaught of the looming boy. But when his vitriol turns against Lana, Monica realizes that she can’t simply hide behind her friend, and she responds calmly but clearly to Bernie, breaking ties with him and walking away. She has recognized and accepted Bernie’s choice to position himself as her enemy.

But that’s not the end of the story. Yes, Monica treats Bernie with far greater respect and dignity than he did her—and more so than what he deserves. This alone is admirable. But accepting someone’s enmity without bitterness is not love—not quite. Instead, it is what happens next that places Monica on the more perfect path that Jesus calls us to pursue. 

Ryn, the bird spirit who watches over and advises Monica, catches her attention, and in the next scene, we see Monica burst into the room where an evil body-shifting dragon mage, having disguised itself as a teacher, is now attacking Bernie. Without hesitation, Monica turns all her efforts against the evil being, defeating its plans and saving Bernie. This is how Monica loves her enemy. 

I’m not talking about mounting rescue missions, though. Let me break it down, as there are two things going on with Monica here.

First, she receives spiritual counsel. She’s open to hearing what Ryn has to say, and letting it inform what she does next. This is exactly what Jesus exhorts us to do, too. You see, the rest of the verse about loving our enemies? It says, “…and pray for those who persecute you.” So our first step is to pray; to invite the heavenly counsel of our own faithful “bird spirit,” the dove of the Holy Spirit, to speak to us and also to hear us out in our pain, confusion, and anger until we are able, by God’s grace, to reach the point where we can genuinely pray for our enemy. Not the manipulative kind of “prayer” that asks God to show our enemy how wrong they are, or which itemizes what needs to change about them! But the kind that blesses; the kind of prayer that is an act of goodness in and of itself, and not an attempt at correction or control. It can be tempting to first air our enmity to friends or family, or heaven forbid, to social media; but Jesus tells us to pray when it comes to dealing with enemies. 

The second thing Monica does, though, is to turn her efforts against the real, supernatural enemy. Her conversation with the spirit bird happens off-screen, but we can assume from her subsequent actions that at some point during that exchange, Monica came to understand where the real threat was coming from, what the evil power in their midst truly was, and she let that, and not her experience of Bernie, dictate her actions toward him. And so she intercedes and rescues the boy.

Like Monica, our real enemies are not the people around us, but the evil powers among us. Or, as Paul explains, we struggle against spiritual enemies —“against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places”—and not against “flesh and blood” or fellow human beings. Our true enemy is the evil power trying to steal, kill and destroy people’s hearts and minds and lives, pitting us against one another. So the second thing we do is reorient ourselves to face off against the real enemy. This is what Monica does, and it’s how she is able to rescue the boy who made himself her enemy.

Monica and Bernie don’t end the episode as friends. The trust has not been restored. The same is often true for us, too. But that’s okay. Here’s the mind-blowing thing about loving our enemies: Jesus does not tell us, “Reconcile with your enemies,” or “Redeem your enemies,” let alone “Win them over so that they become friends.” Jesus does not challenge us on considering others to be enemies. He lets us have that. But he does challenge us on what we do about those enemies, how we think about them. We are forbidden from hating them, or from doing any other thing against them; all we may do is to love them and pray for them.

Jesus tells us outright part of the reason why we are called to love our enemies: It is so that we might be true children of God, growing in our likeness to our heavenly Father, who is perfect in his love, making the sun to shine and the rain to fall on the righteous and unrighteous alike, and showing kindness even to ungrateful and evil people. By loving our enemies, we are transformed; we actually stop being an enemy to others! In answering Christ’s call to love our enemies, after all, we stop working against them in hostility and opposition, and start fighting the good fight for them.  

But there’s more to Jesus’s strategy here, too. It’s there between the lines, in the implications of his logic, but it’s even easier to see in the testimonies of people who have actually done this, loving their enemy. People like Daryl Davis or Ann Atwater, St. Patrick or Sister Helen Prejean. These testimonies show us that—although not always, nor even necessarily a majority of the time, yet on rare, precious occasions—loving our enemy actually does redeem, save, and transform them, as they encounter the Father’s perfect love through us, his children. It’s not guaranteed, but it’s a beautiful bonus when it comes.  

In Monica’s case, there is no apology or renewed friendship, but Bernie does finally show the Silent Witch the respect that she is due after his rescue, and he abandons his plot to persecute her, even keeping her secret. But even if he had persisted in his harassment, Monica herself has changed: When she first realized there was a chance she might encounter Bernie, the shy girl was shaking in her boots, and the terror and resultant inaction only intensified each time Bernie crossed her path. But after choosing to love her enemy, Monica is now free of the fear that Bernie had come to represent for her. She is firmly on the more perfect path, and it’s healing her each step of the way. 

So, the next time we face off against someone we consider an enemy, whether in person, online, or indirectly, in conversations about absent third parties, instead of being filled with tension, ready to fight; instead of eying them with disdain, ready to mock, insult, or whip scripture at them at high velocity, let’s pause, turn to God, and thank him for the opportunity to become more like him, as we pray to bless and not curse that person. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the real enemy in this situation, so that we might stand against that evil power instead. Let’s love like this, sacrificially, as Jesus did, and see for ourselves just how much it changes us, and maybe even the world, too. What a radical way to live!

• Author
• Recent Posts

claire

Claire is a cultural historian by day and anime enthusiast by night. She grew up watching anime without knowing it, misspent her youth studiously avoiding it, and finally came to her senses a few years ago and embraced it. Mostly because of Boogiepop, Kensuke Ushio and Naoko Yamada.

Latest posts by claire (see all)

• Film Review: All You Need Is Kill - 01.15.2026
• First Impression: Kaya-chan isn’t Scary - 01.11.2026
• First Impression: Dead Account - 01.10.2026