Pope: Christ's law of love overcomes law of
retaliation
(Vatican Radio) During his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope
Francis said the day’s Gospel – part of the Sermon on the Mount, from the
Gospel of Saint Matthew – is one of the Biblical passages that best expresses
the Christian “revolution.”
In the day’s Gospel reading, he said, “Christ shows the path
of true justice, through the law of love that overcomes that of retaliation,
that is, ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’.” Jesus, he continued,
does not ask His disciples simply to bear evils patiently, but to return good
for evil: “Only in this way can the chains of evil be broken, and things can
truly change.”
Pope Francis notes that for Jesus, the refusal to return
evil for evil goes so far as to sometimes involve giving up a legitimate right:
turning the other cheek, or giving up one’s cloak, or making other sacrifices.
But, he said, “this renunciation doesn’t mean that the needs of justice should
be ignored or contradicted; on the contrary, Christian love, which is
manifested in a special way in mercy, represents a superior realization of
justice.”
Jesus, the Pope said, wants to teach us the distinction
between justice and vengeance: “We are allowed to ask for justice; it is our
duty to practice justice. On the other hand, we are forbidden to revenge
ourselves or to encourage vengeance in any way, insofar as it is an expression
of hatred or of violence.”
In fact, Christ’s law of love calls on us to love even our
enemies. This, Pope Francis said, should not be seen as an approval of their
wicked actions, but as “an invitation to a higher perspective, like that of the
heavenly Father, who makes His sun to rise on the wicked and the good.” Even
our enemies, the Pope explained, are human persons, created in the image of God
– even if that image is sometimes obscured by evil acts. Christ calls us to
respond to our enemies with goodness, inspired by love.
Before leading the traditional Angelus prayer, Pope Francis
prayed that the Virgin Mary might help us follow “this demanding path” set out
by Jesus, “which truly exalts human dignity, and makes us live as children of
our Father Who is in heaven.” The Holy Father prayed that Mary might help us to
practice patience, dialogue, forgiveness, and to be artisans of communion and
of fraternity in our daily life.”
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