Day 8: Love Does Not Tally Wrongs Or Celebrate Injustice

Photographer: Mark Burban, Traffic Lights in Bangkok

L

ove all, trust a few, do wrong to none (All's Well That Ends Well, I, i, 64). If I were to rephrase this quote from a play written by Shakespeare it would be: "Love all, [like] a few, do wrong to none." When I was still a Jesuit novice, Fr Charlie Wolf SJ, of happy memory, gave a sermon about the difference between loving and liking. He said that it is impossible to like everyone and Jesus does not ask of us what is impossible to give. But it is possible to love all. St Paul writes to the Christians in Rome–"love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10).

Firstly, what does it mean to love all? It may seem like a tremendous task but it is really doable even if not all people, including oneself, are likable enough. Let us revisit our own understanding of God's law of love. We can still love the person even if we hate or we do not like what the person does. We separate the person from his or her sinful acts. This gives proper direction whom to love, i.e., fellow human persons. We can love objects but even this love flows from our love of persons. In Ignatian Spirituality this is what we call Cura Personalis meaning 'care for persons' and this is an authentic form of love. But love must not condone the wrongs that the other person does. Love seeks for loving ways so that the other might be guided back to the righteous path. This is the meaning behind 1 Corinthians 13:5 "Love does not tally wrongs or celebrate injustice."

Pope Francis in his recent encyclical Fratelli Tutti tells us how we are all brothers and sisters. To the question "Who are my neighbors?" he uses Jesus' model of the Good Samaritan. Love has no geographical boundaries, walls and divisions. God entrusts first to our love our neighbors so we need not look far. There is a 1979 cartoon strip Peanuts which can depict this point.

Second consideration, what does it mean to like a few? "Love all, [like] a few, do wrong to none." This means that we must also be discerning in our relationships and choices. In the same way that we cannot choose all persons to take care of. We leave that up to God to do. There is always a part of each one of us that is not likable, which needs changing; hence, we cannot like all. In fact even God will not like everything we do despite how much God loves us. God does not only love us first, he never loves us less. We are the ones who feel we are being loved less when we make bad choices especially when these are pummeled by selfish loves. This is what we must not like first in ourselves before moving to love or like the other. "If we say we have no sin [refusal to admit that we must be converted], we delude ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). 

Third consideration, when we say that love does not celebrate injustice, we must not take delight in the misfortunes of others even if along the way we have been hurt or unjustly treated. That is why there is room for forgiveness. We cannot enforce forgiveness though, not to mention, manufacture it. It can only come from God. But we can do something by being open to beg for the grace. One loving act that Jesus has commanded is to love our enemies by praying for them at least. “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" (Matthew 5:43-44).

Featured song for today is the mash up of "Perfect" by Pink and "Just The Way You Are" by Bruno Mars. God's love is always perfect by being just the way you are–the authentic and perfect you that God has lovingly created for eternity.

Fr JM Manzano SJ