BREAK THE CYCLE OF EVIL

The Great Challenge of Christianity is “TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF EVIL”.

This, I believe, is what Our Lord Jesus Christ wants us to do when He said: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your friends, hate your enemies.’ But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become the sons of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil. Why should God reward you if you love only the people who love you? Even the tax collectors do that! And if you speak only to your friends, have you done anything out of the ordinary? Even the pagans do that!
You must be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:43-48)

“An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” (Matt.5:38) This is how we, as human beings, usually react to any harm done to us. We tend to return evil for evil, or do harm to those who do harm to us. In other words, we want to retaliate. Hence, there is a Cycle of Evil. In our world today we are experiencing the great sufferings brought about due to this attitude of vengeance.

Looking at Christ hanging on the Cross, I believe that He could have easily annihilated all those who were torturing Him, because He is God. But why did He not use His power to do so? Instead He prayed: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”.

This, I believe, is one of the reasons why Christ became man, so He could show us how to break the cycle of evil by not retaliating, but instead be forgiving to those who hurt us.

We must admit, however, that to do this act of forgiveness requires a strong conviction that the one being forgiven is a creature made in the image and likeness of God that deserves our loving concern and respect. It requires seeing God Himself in the person He created. This is the great dignity of every man in this world. It is because of this dignity that Christ said: “Now I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you”. (John 13:34) In other words, Christ is now the New Standard for love.

Humanly speaking, this command is something beyond our comprehension and even beyond our human capacity to fulfill. It is something that man cannot do without a special help from God. Hence, in order to fulfill it man has to humbly pray to seek God’s grace. For what may seem impossible for man is possible with God.

This grace that enables man to forgive is actually what Christ is offering to anyone who believes in Him. When one receives this grace and puts it into practice, he then becomes an instrument of God “TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF EVIL” and thus help to make this world a better place to live in.

By: Salvador B. Cagurangan
Aug. 16, 2009