Don’t Forget to Love Your Neighbor

Forgiveness and reconciliation are necessary virtues in the Christian life. I am reminded of that now that we are in the midst of a contentious presidential election. At St. Benedict’s Monastery we are currently reading the book The Sunflower by Daniel Wiesenthal. It tells the story of a moral quandary where an innocent victim is asked to forgive his attacker. The story, the real-life experience of Daniel Wiesenthal, tells of his time as a Jewish prisoner in a concentration camp during World War II. A nurse found him one day and bade him to come with her into a makeshift hospital. Wiesenthal had gone to school here before the War. As he is brought into a room used for wounded German soldiers, he encounters a severely wounded and burned man named Carl. He was an S.S. Soldier who was fighting on the Eastern Front in the German invasion of Russia during World War II. Daniel was brought in because he wanted to talk to a Jew. Carl was disfigured horribly during battle by an artillery blast. The conversation came to the point where Carl wanted to ask Daniel, a Jew, to pardon him for what he had done. He had taken part in many atrocities against the Jewish people. Daniel, although empathetic at first, remembered what his own people were going through during the Holocaust, and he left the room without saying anything. Along his journey as he was marching from one prison camp to another, Daniel saw sunflowers placed on the graves of dead German soldiers. He felt they were given more respect than his people ever were. 

The moral question raised by the author is simple and still very challenging: should Daniel have forgiven the dying man? Many people attempted to answer the question as the years have gone on. Some say that Daniel could not grant forgiveness for what his people have gone through. Some argued that the forgiveness could be granted while still condemning the crimes. Altogether the question is posed to us, what is the value of forgiveness? Weary are we in this day and age of fighting and constant conflicts. Now we are in an election season with two rival factions pointing the finger at the other as the problem and not the solution. Jesus called on the Disciples to forgive completely, seven times seven or seventy-seven times, depending on what Gospel you quote. The truth is clear when you understand that seven is a symbol of completeness in the Bible. We are called upon to forgive our neighbor and to love them as God loves us. Oh no, one might say. How can you forgive those you have a conflict with? The short answer is that forgiveness and Christian love are all the more necessary when we have a conflict with someone. Forgiveness is a moral value to uphold. No can say that a victim has to forgive the perpetrator of an evil deed. Forgiveness is volitional and entirely up to the God given free choice of the person harmed.  Daniel and his people were innocent victims and the Nazi killers were the offenders. No one has any right to put any moral judgment on a victim. One could liken that to blaming the victim of a car crash instead of the person who actually caused the crash. Forgiveness is not required or imposed on the victim in such extreme circumstances as these presented in the Sunflower. As for us, however, we are under a common obligation. We are called to live in peace without regard to political loyalty or ideology. The commandment to forgive, and to love God with your whole heart and your neighbor as yourself, never go out of existence. We are called to forgive each other again and again. Let it not rest simply at leaving the wrath to God. Christians are called, and Catholics especially, to be those repairing the breach. The venture is that only this can heal the wounded heart of a divided nation. Then, and only then, are we living up to our true potential.

Do not forget to love your neighbor this year. And when you disagree over politics, traditions, or minor things, take the time to pray for the person you disagree with. Amen.