Readings: 1 Sam 26:2, 7-9, 12-23, 22-23; 1 Cor 15:45-49; LK 6:27-38
In the Gospel reading today, Jesus presents to us one of His most difficult teachings: “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” None of these things comes naturally to us. This is where the teaching of St. Paul from the second reading must be applied to us. What is natural comes before what is spiritual; what is earthly comes before what is heavenly.
St. Paul is telling us that we are like Adam, the first man, but we are striving to bear the image of Jesus. This transformation must be a true and interior transformation. In other words, we cannot put up a façade and try to look good; we must strive to truly be good. That said, we must also be aware that whenever we are striving to grow in an area of virtue, what is external always precedes what is internal.
Since we are called to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us, perhaps meekness and charity will be good examples of virtues to consider. If you think about someone you do not like, or someone who treats you badly, you will probably feel some anger toward the person because of the way that person treats you. If you pass by the person in a hallway, you might be able to muster something of a smile and greet the person. On the outside, anyone witnessing your behavior may be quite impressed with the way you handled yourself. However, what you felt on the inside may not be at all similar to what anyone saw on the outside.
We need to begin with our external actions; then, once we become somewhat proficient at those actions, we can address our internal dispositions. Over a period of time, we will feel less and less anger when we encounter this person and we will actually have a disposition of true charity, that is, wanting only what is best for that person. In between, the internal might start with feeling sorry for the person or developing some other way to stay at peace before the meekness and charity are in place.
One of the areas many of us need to consider is a twist on what we see in the first reading. King Saul and 3000 men are searching for David to kill him. During the night, David and Abishai were able to sneak into the Israelite encampment and make their way to King Saul while everyone was asleep. Because Saul wanted to kill David, Abishai suggested that God had delivered David’s enemy into his hands and asked David’s permission to kill the king. David stopped Abishai saying: “who can lay hands on the Lord’s anointed and remain unpunished?”
In essence, this was a test for David. He could have taken vengeance on his enemy, but recognizing Saul was the anointed of the Lord, David refused to do anything that would harm the king. This is certainly an aspect of the Jewish culture that was passed down from the time of the Exodus. We find the same event related in both First Chronicles and Psalm 105 where the foreign kings were admonished by God not to touch His anointed one or do any harm to His prophets. If this was the case for all of the Israelites, it is even more so with the one who was anointed king of the Israelites.
I mention this because today we have some among us who have been anointed by the Lord but are on the receiving end of many attacks. These are the Bishops and the Pope. No one is asking that we just mindlessly go along with foolish things or ignore when something is done wrongly. Just as David did not deny that Saul was trying to kill him, neither are we to deny something that is wrong. However, it is the personal attacks that we need to be aware of. Acknowledge the wrong, but touch not the Lord’s anointed; rather, pray for that person!
This is a great area to practice meekness and charity, especially because some of these men are providing many opportunities for us to grow in virtue. We may not like someone, we may not agree with someone, but we can still remain at peace on the inside and practice charity in both our thoughts and our words. The internal peace and the charitable thoughts may not be there initially, but by catching ourselves, praying for the person(s), and bringing the incidents back to prayer to discern how we could have handled them better, we will begin the process of interior change. When this happens, we will bear the image of Jesus even in the most difficult circumstances!
Fr. Altier’s column appears regularly in The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly published in St. Paul, Minn. For information about subscribing to The Wanderer, please visit www.thewandererpress.com.
