St. Mychal Judge Church (Dallas, TX)
The Liberal Catholic Church

Self-dedication

A homily delivered August, 2004
St Michael Church; Nashville, TN
Rev. Wynn Wagner

Romans 15:1
Matthew 5:17

Today's gospel has some clear marching orders, and I don't like any of them.

"Love thy enemies," it says. And it means to love them as enemies. It doesn't say, and it doesn't mean, try to convert your enemy or to change your enemy in any way.

None of this means to allow harm to come your way. You should take yourself out of harm's way. None of this means to allow harm to come to others. You should protect those who cannot protect themselves.

But when bad things are thrown **your** way, your best weapons are love and retreat. "Do good to them that hate you," it says. And I reply, "Oh, man." They don't deserve good works. "Bless them that curse you," it says. And that is hard to do. It is hard to love when someone hates you. And it is very hard to love when it is you hating yourself.

When you are a priest, you can bind things onto people. If you practice Reiki, you can withhold Qi-energies from those you don't like. If you know something about magick, you can really cause injury to others and to yourself, especially if you are willing to accept the judgment of the universe for what you are doing.

Ah'hah. A clue. One version of this clue comes from the teachings of many modern earth-based religions... the Law of Three. It says whatever you do, comes back to you multiplied three times. If you are nice, others are thrice-nice to you. If you like others, others (1)really (2)really (3)really like you. The Law of Three says bless them that curse you or you will be cursed. We're all told, regardless of our religion, to pray for them who persecute you.

When you retaliate for something, what you are doing is telling the universe that you can handle things. You are saying that you are strong enough to absorb the karma that would otherwise have been dished out to your enemy. You are saying "I'm in charge of this situation." And the universe, respecting your wishes, let's you handle it. The universe lets you fight back... lets you return the hate... lets you curse and bind and conjure. The universe assumes you know what you are doing, and reassigns the universal judgment that had belonged to your enemy to your account, and then compounds the interest times three.

Nasty situation. Definitely nasty. So what can we do? When things are working smoothly, we don't have to do anything. When we have a good relationship to our guardian angels and ascended masters and the universe, everything lays down the way it is supposed to lay down. When somebody spews hate to me, what I want to do is bless them... which is another way of saying that I want to step-aside without animosity to let the universe settle the situation. It is a kind of astral judo, where the enemy falls using his own energies. Bless you... "and another one bites the dust." The universe is lots better at karma than I am. She's been doing it a lot longer, for one thing.

It isn't like we haven't heard this before. In a moment, we will stand and say together the Act of Faith of the Liberal Catholic Church. One line says, "we know we serve him best when best we serve our fellow man."

It isn't like we haven't heard this before--

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

We have heard the same idea over and over--

Ye have heard that it hath been said: Thou shalt
love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy. But I
say unto you: Love your enemies; bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray
for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.

How many times, how many different ways, do we need to be told this? Okay, close your eyes of a second. Conjure up a mental picture of someone you really hate. You may can feel your blood start to boil, and that's okay. Above and behind this person, the sky gets brighter. Brighter. Brighter. A ball of light comes toward the person. No, not a ball. It is a white dove that is glowing. The dove flies closer and alights onto the person. The dove disappears. The white light envelops the person standing there. [pause]

Please open your eyes again. Okay, that's what Love Your Enemies looks like and feels like.