Christmas 2023: Let us see enemies as brothers and sisters
Christmas Message of Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, O.P.
Today, the world is seething with violence, more than at any time since the end of World War II, when I was born.
This anger breaks out in war between nations, but also within societies.
The social media stir up anger. Anger attracts readers and so makes money. Even the church is filled with violent accusations.
Jesus grew up in a country torn apart by violence, too. As a child, He would surely have seen the crucified body of the 2000 Jewish rebels horribly killed by the Roman occupiers. And yet He was a man without violence who asked us to turn the other cheek.
How can we learn from him?
Violence springs up from fear so that we do not see the other person as a fragile human being, capable of love and hurt like us.
Fear makes us see enemies.
But we need not fear, since on Easter Day, love won the victory. Hatred was defeated.
Let us be liberated from the slavery of those who react to anger with anger. We are free to say the violence stops with me, as it stopped with our Lord on Good Friday.
We must claim our Christian freedom to begin again.
Jesus saw the hidden dignity and goodness of the sick, of prostitutes, His enemies, and even of Roman occupiers.
Let us open our eyes to see those whom we think of as enemies. If we do so, we shall see brothers and sisters made in the image and likeness of God.
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