Our Love Must Surpass our Anger

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Ask any funeral director and they will be able to share with you the ugly side of funeral planning. They'll have a story (or two) about family dysfunction that will make your toes curl.

My mom was always aware of this and would warn us that when she died, she did not want us fighting amongst ourselves over her stuff. My brothers and I had learned this lesson well over the years, but it really just wasn't in us to fight anyway.

Maybe our Dad's death at a young age somehow instilled in us a sense of teamwork. We always rallied together in support of our mom who widowed young, leaving her with us four kids to care for. We intuitively pulled together.

As my mom was aging, we all used our various gifts to contribute to her welfare, and when she passed, it was the same thing. There wasn't any drama at her funeral, which she would have really appreciated. Too many times she had witnessed this kind of drama with her friends' families, I suppose.

I bring this up because in my morning prayers, it came to me that we should always "let our love surpass our anger."

Love--genuine love--must be bigger than anything. For my mom, family closeness was everything. Even though family members may share differences in politics, cultural issues, or life in general, it all pales next to loving each other unconditionally.

Like the teamwork that was somehow instilled in us, it is now time for the people of our world to practice that same love for each other, striving toward one goal--peace.

The current war that is happening in the Middle East is heartbreaking, and having finished a book by a pacifist bishop, I am beginning to look at war differently--through the eyes of the innocents killed.

While I don't have any easy answers, in light of the gospels, it is clear that retaliation and vengeance do not produce a solution to peace, only more bloodshed. I keep thinking there must be a different way, the way of Christ, who in the face of being arrested, healed the ear of the high priest's slave when Simon Peter drew his sword and cut it off.

We can see in this exchange that the way of Christ is different and we need to strive to follow it.

Janet Cassidy
janetcassidy.com
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