It is foolish to let anything get in the way of saving our soul. Many people get so involved in immediate concerns that they begin to hate those who disagree with them. Many of us have known people who hated political opponents so much that they put their health at risk.
St. Paul speaks of this in 1 Timothy 3:1-7. “Beloved: Remind them to be under the control of magistrates and authorities, to be obedient, to be open to every good enterprise. They are to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate, exercising all graciousness toward everyone. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another.”
A key word: “hateful”. It means “full of hate”. The world is full of things to hate. Many encourage us to hate what it is they hate. Lost souls have one hatred in common: They are anti-Catholic. The more filled with hate they are, the more-anti-Catholic they must be.
What were we like before finding His Church, His Sacraments, His saving Body and Blood? We thought and said bad things about our neighbors. We thought we were so important that we did not have to obey rules we thought unjust. We were just what St. Paul said: “. . . we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another.”
When we become Catholics, we let go of our hate. It disappears.
Our goal: Replacing hate with love. Hate must be replaced with love. If we do so, and do not backslide, we may have ever greater love and the joy that accompanies it each day that we live.
We live forever.
