Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Forgiving and Loving Enemies - 2
We are asked to difficult things, not easy things. We are also asked to do impossible things for "what is not possible for man is possible for God." We read that even criminals when their children are hungry give them bread and do not give them a stone and then we are asked "what reward do you expect for doing only that which was your duty." Jaques Derrida (who was most likely not a Christian) realized that "Forgiveness IF it ever occurs, occurs in the face of the unforgivable."I feel certain that Dietrich Bonhoeffer forgave and loved his Nazi executioners. Even one of the Popes, when shot by an assassin, made the sign of the cross and also visited that assassin in prison and forgave him. Sometimes it is necessary for us to kill but it is never necessary for us to gloat, rejoice, take pleasure in that death. God asks "Do you think that I rejoice in the death of a sinner?"
