Love Your Enemies
Early on, Austin pointed out that P.Z. Myers, whose plan to desecrate the Eucharist I had criticized in my post, has received some threats of physical violence. Since Austin agrees with Myers' assessment of the Eucharist, he, of course, does not understand why some Christians would be tempted to place the "cracker" above a living, breathing human being.
But one does not have to agree with Myers or Austin to know that these threats of violence against Myers are wrong. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5), after revealing the Eight Beatitudes, Christ Himself tells us how we are to respond to those hate us (and, despite Myers' protestations, it is hard to see how the threatened desecration of that which we Catholics hold most dear can be anything other than an expression of hate).
Turning the morality of everyday life on its head, Christ tells his disciples (Matthew 5:43-48):
You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? do not also the heathens this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.
Not without reason is the Sermon on the Mount regarded as the hardest part of the Christian message to live up to. It cuts against every fiber of our fallen human nature. And in a case like Myers' threatened desecration of the Eucharist, it can seem even harder. As an atheist, Myers rejects the teaching of Christ. He feels no need to love his enemies, and certainly not to pray for them. Why should we treat him with greater respect than he treats us?
Yet that is what Our Lord calls us to do: the same Lord we know is present--Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity--in the Host that Myers intends to treat "with profound disrespect," and to "do so joyfully and with laughter in my heart." In the face of Myers' violence, Our Lord instructs us as He instructed His disciple in the Garden of Gethsemane, as His enemies came to take Him away to be crucified: "Put up again thy sword into its place: for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword."
It is not enough, though, simply to refrain from violence or even to refrain from threats of violence. "Pray for them that persecute you." The harder we find such prayers, the more important it is to dedicate ourselves to them.
And so, as Dr. Myers' barbaric assault on that which we hold dear unfolds, let us all join in praying for his soul. Pray for his conversion, that the anger that is so manifest in his both his words and actions may be replaced by faith in the God Who made him. Pray that his eyes may be opened, so that he can see what we see: that the "cracker" that he so hates is the Body of the Only-Begotten Son of God, who gave His life for our sins--and for the sins of Dr. Myers.
“Revenge” is not what a Catholic or Christian should do. Those who are threatening, do not act like true Catholic
I agree with Allen, and I’d also like to add that a dear friend of mine is a great fan of PZ Myers’ blog, but even she thinks he’s taking things too far. I think he’s saying what he is not to make a point about the Catholic faith, but to shock Christians and get them talking about him. Some people think even negative publicity is worth the effort.
Unfortunately, we are talking about him. People like him only have power as long as we allow them to. I’ve spoken with my friends about the situation, and now we’ve moved on from it (although I’m still praying about it).
IMHO, the proper Catholic response to such words and actions is best expressed in Romans 12:19
“Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord” (DRB)
The best thing to do is PRAY!!!! We can sit here and go back and forth with our opinions and try to change each other’s minds, but the only way we will change those who have such sinnful behavior, beliefs, and thoughts is to PRAY for them! Catholic, Christian or ‘other’…it is our responsibility to PRAY for everyone. We are all God’s children-some people’s unwillingness to accept that does not change the fact. The fact that some of us call ourselves Christian and some call themseves non-Christian doesn’t make one group always right or always wrong. Christians sin. Non-Christians can live a moral life. We need to quit trying to change each other and instead leave that to God. We just need to be a good example and PRAY!!!
Love the sinner, hate the sin.
When you feel the outrage, focus on the offence, not the offender.
As a catholic I feel so sorry for anyone who would in anyway desecrate The Holy Eucharist.All we can do for these people is pray that God in his infinite mercy can forgive them.Remember the words that Christ said from the cross,Father forgive them for they know not what they do.May God forgive and mend their wicked ways.
What you propose is proper, Christian and charitable. However, I find it rather disturbing that so many people think it’s perfectly alright to come to my house of worship, take something that I consider to the most holy thing in existence, and desecrate it in the name of free speech because they don’t believe in it. I wonder what PZ would think if a bunch of Christians came into his classroom while he was teaching and started taking things they didn’t consider to have any value and loudly pronouncing how they intended to take them for the purpose of destroying them? It’s just such anti-social behavior and so unbecoming a supposed “teacher.”‘
As much as I hate giving this misanthrope such ill-deserved attention, this sort of behavior is becoming more and more common. If we say nothing against the attacks, it works against us because the assailants say, “See, they don’t REALLY believe their teachings!” If we react with rage, it works against us because in their twisted little world, the atheists think this shows we are “irrational”.