Most difficult, most wonderful
February 13, 2008, 3:33 pm
Posted by Joseph A. Komonchak
Remember:
among the commands of the Lord
none is more difficult,
and none more wondrous,
than that one love one’s enemies.
(Augustine, Earr. in Ps 118, 3; PL 37, 1524)
This is where the rubber meets the road and what distinquishes Jesus from everybody. A genorosity that sees God in everyone, even enemies. The real degringolade of Christendom is due to the reality that that command of the Lord is so little followed.
Who better demonstrates love for one’s enemy–the people who call for a quick retreat of all US troops from Iraq, even though that would clearly abandon the Iraqi people to the wolves of al-Quaeda in Iraq and the the fratricidal maniacs of the sectarian insurgents … or George W Bush who has steadfastly refused to take such an easy path out of the war despite all the abuse that has been piled upon him (under which lesser men would surely crumble)
… or George W Bush who has steadfastly refused to take such an easy path out of the war despite all the abuse that has been piled upon him (under which lesser men would surely crumble) and whose efforts are the only ones currently under way that are actually trying to make Iraq a more peaceful, more rpsoperous, more democratic country.
His reasons for invading Iraq provded to be invalid–but his refusal to abandon the country and his insistence on trying to make it a better place are truly heroic (especially because the initial mistakes will almost certainly always get more attention than the ultimate successes, which will likely occur under subsequent adminsitartions … unless the retreaters prevail)
Robert,
I guess you believe Clemens is not lying either.
robert
you couldn’t be more wrong but i love you anyway.
Robert:
The command to love one’s enemies needs to be defined and explicated. Christ did not mean that shooting a deranged man holding a knife to the throat of an infant was wicked; I’m sure even Bill Mazella would agree to that. Thus I applaud your example of president Bush and Iraq. The president’s huge public relations problem vis a vis WNDs in Iraq is compounded by the press forgetting to fill in the public on the consensus that existed at the time of the invasion, a consensus among most of the world’s intelligence agencies, and more to the poit, a consensus that existed among then president Clinton and his advisers.
“the press forgetting to fill in the public on the consensus that existed at the time of the invasion, a consensus among most of the world’s intelligence agencies, and more to the poit, a consensus that existed among then president Clinton and his advisers.”
What I distinctly remember is the consensus among most of the countries other than the U.S and the U.K (may be more correct to say Blair) that invasion of Iraq was not justified. But that hardly seemed to matter to Bush and Co. And that is why there is a sort of consensus outside the U.S. that Bush is almost a megalomaniac. (Two of my children and their families are settled in the U.S. So it is not as if the security of people in the U.S is not of any concern to me)