Thursday, the Memorial of St. John Chrysostom
(Luke 6)
When is a victim not a victim? The answer is when the victim chooses to stand up and take control of the situation. “Victim” comes from the Latin word victima meaning a creature used in a sacrifice. Sacrificial objects are usually passive and helpless. They neither resist nor do they collaborate in the sacrifice. The gospel passage today recommends that Christians not act like victims when we are victimized. No, we are to take the initiative in an extraordinary way.
Jesus strings together a series of responses to injury under the rubric: love your enemies. Christians are to do good to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us, and to pray for those who mistreat us. We also turn the other cheek when someone strikes us, offer our shirt when they take our coat, and give to others without demanding repayment. Jesus also tells us why we want to treat our enemies so benignly. By our love for all, we show ourselves to be true children of God who will provide us an eternal reward.
In the last few years a number of Catholic Christians in Rwanda have demonstrated that fulfilling Jesus’ mandate in this passage is possible. In the genocide of 1994 killers took the lives of half a million people. In 2001 an archbishop started a process of truth-telling, public confession and requests for forgiveness in the midst of a widespread study of Scripture. One man has forgiven eight people who confessed to taking part in the killing of sixty-five of his relatives!
