God's Non-Violent Love
On
the cross, Jesus has shown us how far God’s love goes. It’s a love that
embraces even those who crucified him. When Jesus is hanging nailed to
the cross, totally broken and stripped of everything, he still prays for
his executioners: “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are
doing.” Jesus’ love for his enemies knows no bounds. He prays even for
those who are putting him to death. It is this, the enemy-loving God,
that is offered to us in the Eucharist. To forgive our enemies doesn’t
lie within our power. That is a divine gift. That’s why it’s so
important to make the Eucharist the heart and center of your life. It’s
there that you receive the love that empowers you to take the way that
Jesus has taken before you: a narrow way, a painful way, but the way
that gives you true joy and peace and enables you to make the
non-violent love of God visible in this world.
Henri Nouwen
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