‘If you love those who
love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who
love them.’ (Luke 6:32)
"Love your
enemies." How is it done? It is just, it is all divine. Truly
here we see the greatness of the "good news", a shocking
news.
In the book of Samuel,
chapter 26, we read about an episode of the Old Testament where we
already see the style of one who forgives and
loves as God loves, who sends rain on the good and the bad (Mt 5:45).
In fact, the first Book of Samuel describes a generous pardon, that
of David who does not kill King Saul, who instead had threatened his
life. David has a higher outlook, he sees things from God, he sees in
the Lord's anointed King Saul, which is why he respects the dignity
and life of the king.
Yes, when a man
forgives it shows his being a child of God, of
a Father who loves everyone, Who is kind to the ungrateful and to the
wicked. In this way the Christian realizes in himself "the image
of the heavenly man" (Col 3:10) as
Saint Paul notes.
"Love your
enemies." This imperative is part of a series of indications
with which Luke highlights the new way of loving of the disciple of
Christ, a love without limits, a love that surpasses the logic of
giving and receiving to assume the style of God. The generosity of
God is absolute and the love of God without limits. A love that
reaches even the enemy.
Love
then, for the enemy, is the last frontier of a boundless mercy. To
love in this way makes us similar to God, it realizes the image of
the heavenly man.
But we must remember
what Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote: “Rarely affirm, seldom
deny, always distinguish.” Today in many countries of the world,
the governments are pushing forward very strongly laws against
“homophobia” even though this manipulation is against the will of
the majority of the citizens of these countries. This word
“homophobia” did not even exist a few years ago! Jesus taught us
to love the sinner but hate the sin. But the non-believers, or
“believers” who do not practice their faith, who are in the great
majority today, do not distinguish between the sinner and the sin,
and so, they accuse the true Christians of hating the people who have
the tendency of homosexuality. Very soon there will be a true and
open persecution against all those who express openly, even in the
churches, that it is a grave sin, the act of homosexuality, which
hurts not only the person who commits this immoral act, but also it
greatly harms the families and the society. How quickly we forget
what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19)!
True love of the enemy means to desire
the true good of the enemy here on earth but also for all eternity.
So many people today, also a great number of religious leaders and
parents, seek to please and satisfy the desires of the flesh of the
people without distinguishing if it is a sin or not, if it truly does
good to the person or not. This is false and destructive love; this
is misguided compassion! Few religious leaders today have the courage
of the first Pope, Peter, the day of the birth of the Church,
Pentecost, to say: “You have crucified Jesus” (Acts 4:10), “the
author of life” (Acts 3:16), with your grave, mortal sins!
Jesus said to the apostles: “Behold,
I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as
serpents and innocent as doves” (Mt 10:16). Our Lady continually
asks us to pray for the priests, the bishops and the Pope, because
there is a great temptation today, with so many people brainwashed by
the mass media, the schools and almost all of the religious
institutions, almost all under the control of the forces of evil, to
accept this false and devastating “love”. Thus it is much easier,
in the name of “love” (false), to live the easier part of the
words of Jesus, to be “innocent as doves”: “Ignorance is
bliss!” It is difficult to go against the current today, to seek
the Truth with difficulty, with study and with assiduous prayer, in
order to also be “wise as serpents”!
One of the acts of charity most
important especially today and which is gravely lacking today,
especially by priests, bishops and parents, is to make known, to make
hated and to overcome sin. But a very great number of leaders have
sacrifices eternity on the altar of human respect precisely because a
great number of “Christians” do not want to know, to hate and to
overcome their sins that they have allowed themselves to become
habituated to!
It is true that we priests studied in
pastoral theology “the need to apply the “law of graduality”.
But what I find is that the recent popes, in the world today, put us
on our guard not so much about the lack of applying the “LAW OF
GRADUALITY” but rather the danger of the “GRADUALITY OF THE LAW”,
which must be refuted in as much as it reduces the value of the law
to a mere ideal.” (Visit: “An Open Letter To A Fellow Priest”;
http://testimony-polo.blogspot.com/2009/11/open-letter-to-fellow-priest.html).
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An Experience of Life:
In my country, for more than
a century, two hundred ethnic minorities have lived in peace and
harmony.
In the same period
when the towers collapsed in New York, also in Nigeria a civil war
broke out because of disagreements between ethnic groups, between
Christians and Muslims, with looting and massacres on both sides.
The government tried to
restore order, but not succeeding, both Christians and Muslims formed
troops of surveillance. I too was in one of
these groups and fought on the side of the Christians.
One evening, during an
inspection tour, we came across a Muslim group. We had surrounded our
enemies. The majority of Christians suggested to kill them. But I
could not do it: the Gospel says that we are to love everyone,
whether Christian, Muslim or Buddhist, and
love even our enemies.
I called our group
leader and I proposed to him and to the others
to save their lives, not because they might not have hurt us, but
because those of other ethnicity are, like us, children of God. These
words struck everyone and the lives of all those Muslim boys were
spared.
I was happy because,
even though we were enemies, God's will for His children is that we
love each other as brothers.
Sumnei (Nigeria)
