Aurora violence: You can do something

7/21/2012

Aurora violence: You can do something

"From the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it." (Matthew 11:12) So said Christ Jesus whose own experience proved that senseless violence cannot stop the advancing of the kingdom of heaven, the perpetual unfoldment of God's goodness and love on earth.

Twentieth century Christian, Mary Baker Eddy, once gave her response to the aggressive, destructive mentality, the evil or error that seeks to betray innocence and massacre life. She wrote, "I will love, if another hates. I will gain a balance on the side of good, my true being. This alone gives me the forces of God wherewith to overcome all error." (Miscellaneous Writings, 104)

As we wrap the wide, strong arms of prayer around the victims in Aurora, Colorado - and of massacres, suicide bombings and violent conflicts occurring worldwide - we should remember two things:

First, the kingdom of heaven, the universal reign of harmony on earth, has been and is forcefully advancing, no matter how aggressive the resistance to it may be.

Second, the only effective response to hatred in any form is pure love.

Don't miss a single opportunity to love, no matter how small. Each individual expression of love brings the forces of God's love into play and reveals more of the kingdom of heaven on earth. Let's not overlook the power of love to erase the effects of hate and to comfort those that mourn.

There is a helpful discussion going on at Time4thinkers.com under the "Radical Acts of Jesus" blog "Do good to people who hate you." If you are looking for fuel for your prayers and support for your radical acts of God's love today, I recommend it as a great read.

Also, every link in this post takes you to an article, a blog, a discussion, a song, or a podcast to lift you and free you to let your love shine. Your prayers are so effective. Your love is so needed.

If you think this is helpful, please share.

nancy

7/21/2012 05:50:42 am

We all feel compassion for the victims, naturally, but what about the killer? I think that someone who can commit such an atrocious act has probably felt he lacked love, and so desperately needs love and compassion, hard as it is. Of course that's easy to say when one is not directly hit by the loss of a loved one...

Michelle Nanouche

7/21/2012 11:31:21 am

Some of the blog posts and articles linked in the post bring out this idea, too, Nancy. People are struggling to find a way to love perpetrators as well as victims. For me the key is to shift from "person" to "person" in loving - the "I will love you this much if" or "I will love you this much when" kind of conditional love, to reflection. Reflected love comes from a Source - divine Love - that only knows how to love - no qualifications or conditions. Love defines its object as good and only loves what is permanent. Evil is not permanent. Evil is unreal to Love.

I think of it this way. If we pose Love/Hate and Good/ Evil as opposites, aren't we giving them equal standing? To me, when I am truly reflecting universal Love, it is Love vs Unreal and Good vs Unreal - that is the oppsite of Love and Good isn't real. Not real, but ignored, or real, but bad - actually of no moment, no power, no influence, no effect.

Oh dear. I am running on a bit...

Kim

7/21/2012 07:32:07 am

I was thinking along these very lines when I heard the news yesterday morning. You post is right on the mark! My additional prayer is that the media does better because it KNOWS better. As we pray daily through The Manual of the Mother Church (Art. VIII, Sect. 4)"...and let Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!"

Michelle Nanouche

7/21/2012 11:38:00 am

Good prayer, Kim! I once was responsible for helping the media in my state safeguard the practice of healing prayer by providing accurate information on the subject to reporters and editors. I decided the best way to accomplish this was to be sure the media was prayed for every day! (I would much rather work with an individual or group that was being supported through prayer, then one that was unsupported and seen as an enemy or as ignorant.)

My staff and volunteers and I took up this prayer daily for our local media and it made a huge difference in the reporting.

Your willingness to suport and love the media - by acknowledging who they are and what they are capable of as advocates for true news, is wonderful; and I hope others are encouraged to do the same.

Sabrina

7/21/2012 11:58:57 am

Wow Michelle!!
Absolutely beautiful!! Thank you for these powerful ideas!
Love ya

Michelle Nanouche

7/21/2012 12:23:45 pm

Love you back! You are welcome and thank you for that mighty Facebook share. I just saw it! ;) Good to have everyone on board with this love-movement.

Cynthia

7/21/2012 01:28:59 pm

Thanks Michelle and everyone for these ideas and comments with which to meet this very difficult human tragedy in Colorado...I love MBE's quote which you shared about loving if another hates and am striving to practice this in my own daily life with family and relationship challenges that come up- difficult to do, but easier when seen from this perspective of the real identity of man rather than the material counterfeit concept of man. I have to keep growing in that understanding ton be at all able to do this - to love if another hates."

Michelle Nanouche

7/21/2012 03:39:01 pm

The world reaps the blessing for your efforts. Thanks for writing in!

Tamara

7/22/2012 03:36:45 pm

Thank you for these powerful ideas, for your prayers and for the links! When I began to pray about it, the first thing that came to mind was that there is no real pleasure in watching or doing evil. When one experiences the pleasure of loving, one loses the supposed pleasure in evil. In this sense, I think it's important to recognize not only that the killer is not excluded from social life, is not excluded from being loved, but he is not deprived of the ability to love. This pleasure - in my opinion, the greatest pleasure one can experience - can not be absent from the experience of anyone.

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