The Hardest Teaching Of All!

Colossians 3:12-17

Be clothed in love

You are God’s chosen race, his saints; he loves you, and you should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same. Over all these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together as parts of one body. Always be thankful.

  Let the message of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you. Teach each other, and advise each other, in all wisdom. With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God; and never say or do anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

ONE OF THE STUPIDEST THINGS EVER WRITTEN

"Love means never having to say you're sorry."  The previous sentence is a load of dingo's kidneys. Being in love does not exempt you from saying your sorry, it never has, it never will.  The fact is that if you love someone, you will go out of your way to NOT do things that upset or anger them.  As a matter of fact, we are called by Paul to "forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins."  We are to fall all over ourselves to be the first to apologize and the reason is simple, God forgave us all of the rotten things that we have done.  He sent his only Son who endured a horrible death.  And Jesus, from the Cross, forgave His tormentors. Look what they did to Him and how he forgave. Can we do less if our loved one leaves the toilet seat up or forgets to take out the garbage or says something mean without thinking?  

Two Reactions to Wrongs Committed Against Us.

When we are wronged we can react in two ways.  The first is the easy way, it takes no thought, nor does it cost us anything as far as our ego goes.  This first reaction is striking back.  She condemns you for leaving your socks on the floor and he tells her how her relatives are all 'ner do wells. She responds by pointing out that his drunken brother only comes around when he wants to borrow money.  He responds by telling her that she needs to grow up.  And on and on it goes.  Hurt is piled upon hurt in this game called "Escalation."  And what is it all over? A pair of socks left on the floor.  

The second way that this scenario could go is much shorter and what we should be doing.  She mentions that he left his socks on the floor, she says it not in a pleasant manner and he defuses the situation by apologizing.  You can turn this scenario around and have him complaining about something and her apologizing, either way, we are called to respond in love. 

RESPONDING IN LOVE SOMETIMES MEANS RUNNING AWAY! 

Now I am not a fool and I know that there are some things that would not qualify for easy forgiveness except that they do.  If a husband beats a wife, she should forgive AND while she forgives she should get the hell out of the situation. Removing oneself from a violent situation is an act of charity for both parties.  It removes the near occasion of sin from the person who is doing the beating and it is saving the dignity of the victim who, after all, is a member of the Household of God.   Being required to forgive is not a license for one person injuring another.  Our dignity as a person beloved of God does not require us to stand there with a smile while someone is breaking our jaw. All possible things should be done to protect one's self from harm. 

Solution:

If all of us took this teaching seriously, there would be no husbands beating wives, there would be no need to fight wars and people would be generally happier.  This only requires someone to start the peace by taking the teaching of Paul seriously and attempting to apply it to all situations one finds oneself in.  Someone needs to be first, would that person be you? 

Please remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory in your prayers this week.  This prayer may be helpful.