Optional Memorial of Saint Stephen of Hungary
In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches me how I should regard and treat others. If the other is a sinner, I can say he is wrong. That’s what Jesus said about the Pharisees. That was reality.
But he also tells me that every sinner is a brother or sister to me and therefore, even though wrong, I can never condemn him or her. That is how Jesus treated others. He offered compassion and gave forgiveness to those who admitted they were sinners. Read the Gospels and see if that is not right.
Just as I am loved by Christ, just as my sins are “washed away in his blood,” so, the person I regard with disdain was also born to be saved. Thank God, most of us don’t have to deal with vicious enemies. It is just those who act at times more like mosquitoes than human beings that are those I must learn to forgive, to love.
This is a hard commandment to learn; harder to put into practice. It becomes easier within a community – a family, a group of friends, companions at work or at school. So, what do others say about my social skills? Most of all, one becomes more aware of showing respect and love for others by prayer.
Resolve. I shall say special prayers to the Holy Family for the grace to put into practice in my daily dealings with others Jesus’ teachings in today’s Gospel, and I shall also pray for my Christian brothers and sisters who suffer persecution, particularly for the Armenian people, who seem to be on the verge of another genocide.