Respect Anointed Ones
Yesterday’s Scripture readings were loaded with several lessons. The aspect of forgiveness was commented on yesterday and today I wish to expand on the other lesson - respect for God’s anointed ones.
Who are the anointed people? In 1 Sam. 26:2,7-9,12-13,22-23, it’s obvious that the anointed one was Saul. Hence people in authority generally are the anointed ones. We should respect people in authority despite their failings. At times the policies promulgated by those in authority are against God’s laws (eg, abortion, same sex unions & marriages, etc). Yet we are expected to respect the people who issue these laws while protesting and working to amend these unjust laws. To paraphrase, we should hate the law not the lawmaker. Slander and insults are prohibited for Catholics.
Similarly, all our clergy are anointed during their ordination. The same principle above applies when we are asked to respect these people even they have betrayed their congregation as in the sex abuse cases. The legal suits against the Church over the last 10 years are definitely not within Jesus’ advise to us to not reclaim what has been lost. Do multi million dollar suits really return the innocence stolen from the youth by their parish priests? Are these victims joyful with their financial windfall? Not if Scripture is right - only forgiveness by the victims can bring peace. Are we expected to do nothing in such instances. Absolutely not. We should press criminal charges for sure to ensure that others are not victimized and to give an opportunity to the perpetrator to atone for his sins and crime.
What about other Catholics, shouldn’t we be considered as anointed as well. After all we have been baptized and confirmed. For sure, the laity are also included in this category. Therefore, we should avoid any action that brings harm to our fellow Catholics and other Christians. We are members of the one Body of Christ. We can’t avoid hurting Christ by bringing hurt to others.
Finally, the entire human race is anointed. The mere fact that the Holy Spirit moves all humans means that we are all anointed. Jesus didn’t classify that we should offer the other cheek only to fellow Catholics but to all. We are all from the One True God, but not all us are aware or accept this point. When Jesus told us that when we help the least of His children we actually help Him. He didn’t qualify that these we only fellow Catholics or other Christians. He was being inclusive.
So Jesus’ lesson for the week is that we should love and respect all people until it hurts. Mother Theresa of Calcutta is a shining recent example of one who lived this demand.
