DE Ponderings by Kevin Kessler

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven...” Matthew 5:43-45a (NRSV)

In a moment of reflection one morning, the thought came to me that rather than hating what is evil it would be better to share love with that which is evil, lavishing upon what is evil as much love as is humanly possible, and then some. Easy to do? Absolutely not. But isn’t it what Jesus calls us to do?

I recently read a quote that I thought was attributed to Mother Teresa, but as I studied it further, I couldn’t be sure the author of the article had the attribution correct. My questioning resulted in doing a search for quotes of Mother Teresa. It became quickly apparent that Mother Teresa understood Jesus’ instructions to love rather than hate. I’ll let her words speak for themselves by sharing some of her quotes. She says it so much better than I can, so I’ll cease with my thoughts and give the floor to Mother Teresa.

From Mother Teresa:

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”

“I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, 'How many good things have you done in your life?' rather he will ask, 'How much love did you put into what you did?”

“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty—it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

I’ll close with this thought: I wonder what effect the ripples we create by throwing our rock of love into pools of hate will have on the world in which we live? Something to ponder. Something to do!