Joseph Lewis D’Silva
Christ told us – “Love your enemies.” Perhaps, He said this because it is so easy to love those who love us but the real test of love is in loving those whom we regard as enemies. Yes, just as the rays of the sun, when it strikes the petals of the daisy it opens, similarly, does love and encouragement of friends, open the goodness in us and in our foes.
Love is the most powerful energy in the world. It can lift sinners from the worst of situations. . Love can cure illness; it can heal wounds of broken hearts; it can drive out the darkness of evil thoughts; it can forgive and forget. Mother Teresa extended love to strangers, handicap and the sick. She has shown the power of pure love in action with compassion and respect; by imitating her, we can make this world a better place.
There is no love without forgiveness and no forgiveness without love. Jesus even cautioned on the uselessness of our worship and religious practices when we do not forgive. He said “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift (Mathew 5:23-24)”. Forgiving others, especially, when the hurts run deep, is not easy, but always possible. Jesus filled with great love forgave his executioners even as he hung upon the cross. In May, 1981, as a large crowd greeted Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, several shots were fired. The Pope had been hit by a gunman. From his hospital bed, the wounded victim announced that he had ‘sincerely forgiven’ his ‘brother,’ whom he later visited in prison. Eventually, at the Pope’s request, the convict was pardoned by the President of Italy and deported to his country. In April, 2005, the man who had tried to kill the Pope was among the millions who mourned the passing of that great leader. He returned to Rome in 2014, after Pope John Paul II had been declared a saint, and laid white roses on his grave. The Pope had graciously shown forgiveness, and his magnanimity was not forgotten.
The rays of hate, beget hate which are destructive. Many think that the best way to show off their power and skill is through retaliation and not love. They tell their enemies: “You hit me once, and I will deal such a death blow to you that you will never dare to raise your head again.” It gives them a sense of pride. Revenge only widens the gap of misunderstanding and hate. Hate speeches and revenge actions killing innocent people build walls around us that make a perfect prison cell – suppressing the joy of life and our search for peace. If we hold a piece of paper and a convex lens and move it up and down there will be a point when there is a sharp focus and a bright spot on the paper which makes the paper to burn. If we focus our energies like this with hate, it will burn the good in this world and make the world a worst place to live in.
Hatred has never done any good. It has only made things ugly and devastating. It is love and the feeling of brotherhood that brings beauty in the form of peace and harmony.
