Alberic Jacovone OSB
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YEAR C
SEVENTH SUNDAY - 18.2.07
1 Sam 26,2.7-9.12-13.22-23; 1 Cor 15,45-49; Lk 6,27-38
Love enemies: choose to stay ‘in love’
Does
God love terrorists?
Some days ago there was public outrage over a provocative statement displayed on
a Church notice-board, saying: God loves Bin Laden.
In the light of today’s Gospel (Luke Chapter 6) it’s important that
we -as Christians- assess the above statement. The hard reality is that God -
while he loves each of us immensely since we are his beautiful creation - will
certainly reward or condemn us according to our good or bad deeds. No terrorist
of any age will escape the ultimate judgment of God. Indeed any horrendous crime
against humanity should act as a warning to us lest we too adjust to the evil
logic of these people & end up perpetrating the same crimes & as a
result earn the same utter condemnation from God. Our Catholic devotion to the
Sacred Heart teaches us that our Lord is forever & constantly saddened by
the ingratitude that we humans, display by defying God’s infinite love &
mercy & committing so many sins & crimes. When we come to Mass we join
our Lord & the saints in heaven, in making reparation for the crimes of
humanity & pleading for mercy. But still one thing is certain: none of us
-no matter how powerful - skilful - successful or scheming we are in
perpetrating crime- no one, will escape God’s final judgment & the fires
of hell, unless of course we repent. Jesus’ command to love enemies never
gives criminals & terrorists an open order to massacre innocent people: it
gives us a choice to stay ‘in love’ even when they hate us. While it is true
that God as creator, is proud of, & loves all his creation, including
ungrateful sinners & criminals, including Lucifer & his rebel-angels
& devils, He will never go against his role as judge of the living & the
dead: we will get what we deserve.
We
do not love, because people deserve our love. Today we are urged to study Chapter 6 of Luke’s
Gospel in its entirety. In it, we are challenged by the Spirit of the
Beatitudes: to submit to God & trust in him, to offer passive resistance to
those who hurt us, indeed to have the inner courage of “loving enemies &
turning the other cheek”. Here, the inner logic is based on this realization:
if we allow our hateful feelings & drives to dominate us we become
destructive - worse than our enemies - we retaliate & escalate -... until we
annihilate each other. This has been the sad result in all wars & family
feuds. Christianity will always teach & command us, to love as God does. He
loves us, just as we are, good & bad alike, but he also urges us to ‘act
justly, love tenderly & walk humbly with God”. If we don’t, we will
certainly be condemned & punished. Our faith invites us to own the teaching
of ‘love thy enemies’ as we deal with our aggressive hatreds in our
families, groups & work-places. Sadly we’ve all experience the famous
saying: with friends like these who needs enemies? Today, let’s recall an
event, when we experienced destructive hurt at all levels & let’s pray the
words of the Our Father: forgive our hurts as we forgive those who have hurt us.
Let’s never allow our feelings of hatred to lash out & destroy our family.
Hatred is a dreadful, destructive feeling: it’s a poisonous drug that we
inject in us & corrodes the very fibre of our life. And sadly, we end up
hating the people we love most, are closest & are in constant exchange. We
never ‘hate’ the President of China or Argentina or USA or even the Queen:
they are too far away. When we hate, we destroy ourselves, not our enemies. When
we nurture thoughts of hatred, we do harm to ourselves not to our enemies who
may not even know we are hurting, holding such hateful thoughts in our mind. Today,
listen to Jesus: let go & let God. Then choose to stay “in love”.
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