No one should wrong or exploit a brother or sister… you have been taught by God to love one another. (1 Thessalonians 4:6,7,9)

Jesus met ‘difficult people’ from time to time. He didn’t get along with everybody. He condemned injustice and godlessness and if you do that you’ll get crucified by the unjust and the godless. If we are ‘change agents’, then we’ll suffer at the hands of those who benefit by things staying the way they are. (But then, some of us want to change things because we are not at ease with ourselves).

Some conflicts result from our idealised picture of who the other should be. Others’ incompleteness reminds us of our own. In marriage it’s sometimes called ‘transference’ transferring emotions to a person or situation which belong somewhere else. He married to escape a dominant mother, so when his wife ‘nags’ and reminds him of a bitter past, he overreacts. She’s trying to make him like her father, who was so helpful around the house, and he does nothing.

In the Ravensbruck concentration camp this prayer was found on a piece of wrapping paper near the body of a dead child:

‘O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not only remember the suffering they have inflicted on us; remember the fruits we bought, thanks to this suffering: our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of all this. And when they come to judgement, let all the fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness. Amen.’

Related Articles:

• Lovers Of Pleasure More Than Lovers Of God
• My God Turns My Darkness Into Light
• God Will Redeem My Life From The Grave
• Blessed Are Those Whose Strength Is In You
• My Times Are In Your Hands

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