Joy and Hope for Today and Tomorrow / Ken Ogorek

‘Are you my enemy or my opponent?’ Loving all is our call in discipleship

What would you do if you encountered an immortal being? A creature who would never not exist? One who will live forever?

Would you be impressed? Awestruck?

Would you treat this immortal being with great respect? Reverence?

The immortal next door

Some folks are surprised to be reminded that every time you’re in the presence of another person, you’re face to face with an immortal being. Not eternal, as only God is eternal.

But once a person is loved into being by our all-loving God, she or he will live forever. Although earthly life will end, that end is the beginning of eternal life. Every person you meet is an immortal being.

Awestruck

We should be in awe of each person we meet. God made that person and loves that person. This person has an unearned human dignity. She or he deserves my love and respect—no matter what!

You don’t have to like everyone. And you certainly don’t have to admire every decision and action that a person makes or takes.

But when we start thinking we can decide who deserves our love and respect and who is unworthy of it, we’re out of our lane. Above our pay grade.

‘The least among us…’

Our archdiocesan pastoral plan—“Go Forth in Joy and Hope as Missionary Disciples”—challenges us with these words: “We want our administrative and pastoral services to reflect ‘best practices’ for achieving unity and for developing the parish and archdiocesan resources required to serve the needs of others, especially the least among us.”

One of the plan’s goals is to “unite the faith community of central and southern Indiana in organized efforts to grow the resources required to strengthen parishes and the archdiocese serving the least among us.”

We can think of the least among us as the poor, the vulnerable, the disabled and so forth—as well we should—striving to be of assistance to them both spiritually and temporally. But what about folks we put into the mental category of least? Those who disagree with us. Those who don’t vote for our candidates. Those who comment negatively on our social media posts.

Vilify, demonize, dehumanize

We form an entire category of “leasts” by mistaking opponents for enemies, and enemies for people we don’t have to love and respect.

Rather than serving two of the most basic needs of all people—love and acceptance—we convince ourselves, subconsciously at least, that we’re surrounded by a blend of good people and bad people, nice people and evil people, people who think like I do and folks who have the audacity to view money, sex, politics or religion from a perspective not identical to mine.

Again, accepting people doesn’t mean condoning their every thought, word and deed.

But just as we accept gifts of various sorts, our faith compels us to acknowledge that each person is a beautiful gift from our loving God, an immortal being worthy of our unconditional love and deep respect.

From least to greatest, from liberal to conservative, from Democrat to Republican, let us interact with each person, in every arena of human encounter, with the joy and hope proper to true disciples of Jesus Christ.

May it be so, with the help of his mercy.
 

(Ken Ogorek is executive director of the archdiocesan Secretariat for Evangelizing Catechesis. His monthly column explores how the Gospel takes root within our everyday lives and communities, especially through the lens of our archdiocesan pastoral plan, “Go Forth in Joy and Hope as Missionary Disciples.” E-mail him at kogorek@archindy.org.) †