Homily for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Christo-centric Attitude Towards Your Enemy

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, February 19, 2023

In the course of everyday living, we encounter people who are different from us in terms of political opinions, philosophical opinions, and religious opinions and whatever else it might be? And if such people then say something about us that is hurtful, if they gossip about us, or we read emails where they wrote ugly things about us, we think of them as our enemies. And they may in actuality be our enemies. The Bible does not say we should not have enemies. There are people who may never like you regardless. What the Bible does say is how we should treat people who don’t like us. So, what should be a believer’s attitude towards his or her enemies? Part of today’s first reading says, “Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). In today’s Gospel (Matthew 5:38-48), Jesus gives us three answers — one, seek no revenge against them, two, love them nevertheless, and three, pray for them. In his sermon on the Mount, Jesus refers to the old rule first, which is unfortunately the rule that most people live by today, and then offers the new rule that his followers must abide by: “You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.” Put differently, take no revenge and harbor no grudges against those who hurt you. Jesus also says, “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.”

Many people have a lot of unresolved anger. According to the angelic doctor St. Thomas Aquinas, anger is an irrational or excessive desire for revenge. Every one of us in one way or another, has been hurt. To some degree, we have been unjustly harmed, unjustly treated, insulted and dehumanized. So, it is natural to harbor a desire to pay back in kind. The anger I am talking about here is not the righteous anger, which is nothing but a passion to set things right, to right wrongs. Righteous anger cares about others. It attacks the sin and not the sinner. A good example of a righteous anger is the “anger” displayed by Jesus as he cleansed the temple or by Martin Luther King Jr. as he led the civil rights movement in America. That kind of righteous anger should be praised and welcomed. But the kind of anger we have, let’s be honest, is not a righteous one. The passion we have is to hit back at those who offended or harmed us. We spend God’s given time daydreaming about what we might say and do to our enemies if we ever get the opportunity or the required power. Haven’t you heard people say, “If I make that money, I will show them; I will teach them a lesson.” Have you not heard people talk about what they would do to their enemies if they acquire enough power, money, influence, connection? That’s what the great St. Thomas Aquinas calls the “deadly sin” of anger. Someone didn’t help you in your time of need. You are angry, and in your anger, you wish and pray to have the wherewithal in order to take your own pound of flesh. I tell you, this mindset, this way of thinking is found in many families and communities. Sometimes the motivating factor behind a person’s strive for success is purely to deal with those who didn’t help them when they were down. “I want to make it so that I can deal with them.” That’s godlessness! That’s going low. That’s going to the gutter. That’s worldly and inhumane. It is not a Christo-centric thought. It is a thought from the pit of hell. It is from the mind of Satan, the evil one. 

As a Christian, are you permitted to express outrage, to complain and lament when you have been harmed? Absolutely! Is it sinful to show emotions when you are being mistreated? Not at all! But after the expression of outrage and emotion, Jesus the Lord of mercy and mercy himself urges that we set our souls free through the wrenching act of forgiving our enemies. If your character is tarnished, don’t seek revenge. Revenge turns you into what you already despise. If you stumble on an email written by a colleague in which ugly things were said about you, don’t pay in kind. Follow the difficult path of forgiveness. Don’t seek revenge. Revenge brings you to the lower level of your opponent. For your emotional stability and salvation, forgive and continue to desire their good. 

When it comes to forgiveness, do we have role models? Yes! On May 13 1981, the great St. Pope John II was fatally shot and wounded by a Turkish man, Mehmet Ali Agca while he was entering St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican City. The goal was to eliminate the Holy Father. He was struck twice and suffered severe blood loss. His attempted killer, Agca was immediately apprehended and was later sentenced to life imprisonment by an Italian court. Upon recovery, the Holy Father visited Agca in prison, forgave him, and asked the world to “pray for my brother (Agca)… whom I have sincerely forgiven.” Agca was pardoned by Italian president Carlo Ciampi at the request of Pope John Paul II. And in 2007, Agca got converted and became a Roman Catholic. About twenty-five years ago, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago Archdiocese was accused by a young man named Steven Cook of sexual misconduct. As expected, the accusation devastated, demoralized and traumatized the man of God. After two agonizing months, Cook withdrew the charge and admitted that it was based on a false memory. But when this same young man, Cook, was dying of AIDS, Cardinal Bernardin did not say, “It serves you right.” Rather, he traveled to see him, brought him the gift of a Bible, prayed for him, anointed him and offered his forgiveness. That’s what love is about, everybody. That’s what forgiveness is about. That’s what praying for those who persecute you is about. We are called to love our enemies and not to tolerate them. 

I conclude by asking you to do the following: remember the name of your enemy. Those individuals that really harmed you, remember their names now. Remember those that you too have hurt. Now, say to Jesus: Lord, I really want to forgive and be reconciled with them. Please, help me!  After this, I strongly urge you to find a way to reach out and heal the relationship if you can find them. A phone call, an email, a visit, a hug etc. might help.