Children of the Heavenly Father

John Paul II visits his would-be assassin in
a prison in Rome on Dec. 27, 1983

Children of the Heavenly Father

February 20, 2011, 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18 I Corinthians 3:16-23 Matthew 5:43-48

First reading from Leviticus

The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy. “You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow citizen, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”

The Word of God
Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Glory to you, Lord

“You have heard that it was said, ` You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for He makes the sun rise on the bad and the good alike, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
Gabby’s impossible burden

When Gabby Giffords, recognizing the right of the people to peaceably assemble, held a `town-hall meeting’ on Saturday, January 8, in the parking lot of a Safeway supermarket in Tucson , AZ, she was shot in the head by a young man named Jared Lee Loughner. She is now undergoing what will be a very long journey back to health in a Houston hospital, involving many reconstructive surgeries. Imagine what a heavy (almost impossible) burden Jesus lays upon this terribly wounded woman, as He tells her to “love Jared Lee Loughner and pray for him, so that you may be the child of your heavenly Father.”

“Hate your enemy.” A glaring addition!

Jesus says,”You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” That’s supposed to be a quote from Leviticus 19:18. But if we check the quote, we find it says only, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s all! When Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, `You shall hate your enemy,’” He was really quoting the scribes and Pharisees whose teachings supposedly were based on Scripture. But nowhere in the Old Testament is there a precept which commanded the Israelites to hate their enemies. ”You shall hate your enemy” was the invention and glaring addition, pure and simple, of the scribes and Pharisees.

Why did the scribes and Pharisees add “Hate your enemy” to the command to “Love your neighbor?” Were they simply thinking that the opposite of a command to love one’s neighbor was a command to hate one’s enemy? Or were they following their own base human nature which delights in hating an enemy? Or were the scribes and Pharisees misapplying some of the Old Testament passages about hatred for God’s enemies. For example, psalms 139 `prays:’ “O God, how I wish you would kill the wicked!” (vs. 19) “O Lord, how I hate those who hate You! How I despise those who rebel against You!” (vs. 21). Etc.

“Love your enemy” -- a command of the O.T.

The Old Testament does not command hatred of an enemy. In fact, it commands just the opposite. “If you happen to see your enemy’s cow or donkey running loose, take it back to him. If his donkey has fallen under its load, help your enemy get the donkey to its feet again; don’t just walk off.” (Exodus 23:4-5) "If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink…." (Proverbs 25:21)

“Love your enemy” -- a crystal-clear command of the N.T.

“Love your enemy” is, indeed, a command of the Old Testament. It’s also a crystal-clear command of the New Testament. “You have heard that it was said, ` You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father.” (Mt. 5:43-45)

These words of Jesus have begotten a whole “cloud of witnesses,” starting with the proto-martyr of the faith St. Stephen. As he was being stoned to death (under the supervision of Saul of Tarsus) he cried out with love for his enemies, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” (Acts 7:60)

Mama Assunta -- a child of the heavenly Father

That cloud of witnesses to Jesus’ words to love an enemy continues in every age. On July 5, 1902, 12 year old Maria Goretti lay dying in a hospital after being stabbed by a family friend, Alessandro Serenelli who intended to rape her. Before dying she forgave her murderer, saying, “For the love of Jesus, I forgive him, and I want him to be with me one day in heaven!” Serenelli went to prison for 24 years, where he underwent a profound conversion, after seeing a vision of Maria in his prison cell. After getting out of prison, he went immediately to Maria’s mother Assunta, begging her forgiveness. The mother, like the daughter, wonderfully forgave Serenelli. Assunta and Alessandro even went to Christmas Mass together, receiving Communion side by side.

The Capuchin friars from Le Marche received Alessandro into their monastery. He said, “They welcomed me with angelic charity into their monastery as a brother, not as a servant. I have been living with them for 24 years, and now I am serenely waiting to witness the vision of God, to hug my loved ones again, and to be next to my Guardian Angel and her dear Mama Assunta.”-- Jesus says, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father.” That’s what Mama Assunta did; she’s truly a daughter of her heavenly Father.

John Paul II – a child of the heavenly Father

That cloud of witnesses to Jesus’ command to love an enemy continued in Pope John Paul II. On May 13, 1981, Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish assassin, shot the Pope in Saint Peter's Square. Ağca was apprehended and imprisoned. John Paul II asked people to "pray for my brother Ağca, whom I have sincerely forgiven.” Though he had once said that the Pope was the “incarnation of evil capitalism” and had tried to murder him, Ağca later developed a friendship with John Paul. In 1983, the Pope and he met and spoke privately in a prison cell. John Paul was also in touch with Ağca's family over the years, meeting his mother in 1987 and his brother a decade later. – Jesus says, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father.” That’s what J.P. II did, and he’s truly a son of his heavenly Father, and a worthy candidate for beatification on May 1, 2011.

The Amish -– children of the heavenly Father

On October 2, 2006, Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages in an Amish one-room schoolhouse, in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. He eventually shot ten girls (aged 6–13), killing five, before committing suicide in the schoolhouse. That horrific event was followed by incredible accounts in the national media of forgiveness and reconciliation on the part of the Amish community. A Roberts-family- spokesman said an Amish neighbor had comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting, and had extended forgiveness to them. Amish community members visited and comforted Roberts' widow, parents, and parents-in-law. One Amish man held Roberts' sobbing father in his arms, reportedly for as long as an hour, to comfort him. The Amish also set up a charitable fund for the family of the shooter.

About 30 members of the Amish community attended Roberts' funeral, and Marie Roberts, the widow of the killer, was one of the few outsiders invited to the funeral of one of the victims. Marie Roberts wrote an open letter to her Amish neighbors thanking them for their forgiveness, grace and mercy. She wrote, "Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need. Gifts you've given have touched our hearts in a way no words can describe. Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world, and for this we sincerely thank you." – Jesus says, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father.” That’s what those dear Amish brothers and sisters did, and that makes them true children of the heavenly Father.

“Anger and hate – too heavy a burden to bear”

Loving an enemy is never easy and never pleasant, even when the enemy says he’s sorry. It’s difficult to forget the past or try to pretend that nothing has happened. But when an enemy says he is sorry and means it, he ceases to be an enemy, and then the ball is in our corner: then we must let hate out and love in. But when the enemy is not sorry, it’s almost impossible to make any sense out of a commandment to love an enemy. It’s almost impossible to “do good to those who hate you, to bless those who curse you and to pray for those who mistreat you.” (Lk 6: 27-28)

At the end of the day, loving an enemy, especially one who isn’t sorry, is first and foremost for our own sake. (Here is a `self-interest’ which is, indeed, a great virtue.) Strange to say, our need to forgive an enemy is even greater than our enemy’s need to be forgiven by us. Martin Luther King said, “I’m sticking with forgiveness and love; anger and hate are too heavy a burden to bear.”

Conclusion
In good company

They are, indeed, too heavy a burden. They mire us down so that we can’t get on with our lives. They consume our energy as we tirade against them and seek revenge, instead of expending our efforts in service of others. Anger and hate turn our gaze constantly upon our `poor offended selves’ instead of upon the sufferings of others. They poison our human spirit with a negativity which makes it impossible to count our blessings and smell the roses.

On the other hand, forgiving our enemy puts us in good company with Proto-martyr Stephen, Mama Assunta, Blessed Pope John Paul and our Amish brothers and sisters. Above all, forgiving our enemy makes us children of our heavenly Father, who makes the sun rise on the bad and the good alike, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.