Wednesday Reflection
23rd February 2022
There are over 50 countries in the world where it is dangerous to be a Catholic or a baby in the womb. There are people people in the media or in positions of power who hate the Catholic Church. Those, for example who tried to destroy the reputation of Cardinal Pell or those who are trying to destroy the reputation of His Holiness Benedict XVI. What about those who mock the institution of marriage or of parenthood or of priesthood? They love to hate. But God is on the side of those who pay back hatred with love. Just as we have such enemies, so did Jesus. However, Jesus did not dislike the Pharisees who deliberately set out to destroy Him. Indeed, He loved them and wanted them to be saved.
At Sunday Mass you heard how David sneaked into Saul’s camp thinking to dispose of his enemy. But then, he realises that, although Saul was personally corrupt, it would be sinful to slay the Lord’s anointed. To slay the Lord’s anointed was the equivalent of slaying God. So, David holds back and it transpires, in God’s good time, that he replaced Saul as King. If David had slain Saul, the abuses that would have followed would have been worse than the abuses he was trying to correct. We need to watch that we do not fall into the same trap. We want Jesus to forgive us …. but we may not be so speedy at asking God to forgive our enemies! There may even be a tendency to think of them as sinners and we are the saints. Actually, we are both saints and sinners. Admitting that does not give us licence to labelling others, saying that this person is a sinner, while that person is a saint. The truth, of course, is more complex. There is a bit of both in all of us. There is a pull, a tension, between our own sins and God’s grace.
We make mistakes in what we do or say. But we also pray. We pray for ourselves and even for those who are opposed to the teachings of the Church; to the teachings of Christ who always did the right thing and always told the Truth. We do so that all might be saved. Paul was perhaps the greatest sinner of his day and the greatest enemy of the Church. Look what happened to him. He became a Prince of the Apostles. I wonder whose prayer and forgiveness brought that about? The modern day Sauls of Tarsus need to do as Paul did and Bow their knees before the Father.
Monsignor Monaghan
