6/18/2013 - Matthew 5:43-48 - Tuesday of 11th week in ordinary time -

     Love your enemy.  We know this is what Jesus exhorts us to do, but this is such a difficult thing.  Especially when we live in a society that seems to value revenge and vengeance.  I remember back last November, President Obama made headlines, making a statement at a public school in Springfield, Ohio, tell Americans: "Voting is the best revenge!"  I remember being shocked that the president of our country would tell people to go to the polls not to do the right, not with a desire to help others and to make our country a better place, but rather to go to the polls and to vote as a form of revenge against others.  Where is the love in that notion?
     As a priest, I hear so often that it is difficult to forgive and to reconcile a broken relationship.  And I compare forgive or reconciling with our brother or sister to a slow progression of drops of water that gradually fill up a glass.  Forgiveness is not usually like flicking on a light switch, something that turns on in an instant.  Forgiveness and reconciliation are things that we have to pray for and work toward each day.  It is a process that is usually not very easy.
      But I must say, I humbly disagree with our president.  Revenge is not the answer.  And I don't think Jesus would agree with him either, certainly not in the light of today's Gospel.