Nonviolence

June 16: Monday of Week 11 of Ordinary Time, Year A-II:

A thought for those who want to reveal the risen Jesus in their lifestyle.

1Kings 21:1-16; Psalm 5:2-3, 4-6, 6-7; Matthew 5:38-42

“Offer no resistance to one who is evil.” Matthew 5:39

Echoing Peter (Matthew 16:22), John Paul II taught Christians can “resist evildoers” by killing them in self-defense, in wars, and, if necessary, to prevent murderers from killing again. But, quoting today’s Gospel, he also teaches that to renounce the right to self-defense is an act of “heroic love which… transfigures the love of self into a radical self-offering, according to the spirit of the Gospel Beatitudes.” He says, “The sublime example of this self-offering is the Lord Jesus himself.”

 

Since John Paul proclaimed repeatedly that “Jesus’ way of acting and his words, his deeds and his precepts constitute the moral rule of Christian life,” and that “Christ’s example, no less than his words, is normative for Christians,” he is obviously proposing this heroic love as the normal standard of virtue for Christians—as the New Law of Jesus does. He just doesn’t call it an obligation (Gospel of Life, 55-57; Splendor of Truth, 18-20, and “World Day of Peace” address, January 1, 1993, parag. 5).

The New Law unequivocally forbids war, the death penalty and killing in self-defense. These are contrary to God’s way of thinking and acting. Jesus set the example. To live by this New Law—or even affirm it in words—is to raise questions only the Gospel answers. This is to bear prophetic witness, which is the first step in evangelization..

PRAY: “Lord, teach me your ways.”

PRACTICE: Speak up for nonviolence. Practice living it.