tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736427810720155529.post2138026274924440440..comments2023-08-09T07:48:53.962-04:00Comments on Bear Witness to the Light: When Someone Strikes You On The Right Cheek, Turn The Other Cheek As Well.Fr. John L. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16167510362871783781noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736427810720155529.post-7215998764814179882010-06-14T13:31:08.955-04:002010-06-14T13:31:08.955-04:00Here and elsewhere in the Bible, Jesus practices w...Here and elsewhere in the Bible, Jesus practices what he preaches: Blessed are the meek. He never acted in response to attacks on his “ego” but would always stand up for “the principle of the thing” (to use a common phrase). <br /><br />Something he did, as you say, through the whole experience of the passion and death. Every Beatitude is right there, from:<br />Blessed are the meek - “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do“, to<br />Blessed are the merciful - “This day you shall be with me in Heaven“, to<br />Blessed are the poor in Spirit - “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” to<br />Blessed are they that hunger and thirst - “I thirst”<br />Etc.<br /><br />I don't think we give enough attention to the Beatitudes either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736427810720155529.post-66905968278179080982010-06-14T09:26:30.709-04:002010-06-14T09:26:30.709-04:00What an incredibly wise child you were! And how pe...What an incredibly wise child you were! And how perceptive about the Middle East situation (where I lived for some years)!<br /><br />We have so many opportunities to turn the other cheek. Once, the Union president vociferously opposed my being hired into a senior management position at an institution where I had worked years earlier (and left) as a junior manager. (Long story, and I felt that he was very wrong in his perception because he was relying on untrue information from some jealous but vocal junior managers.) I was hired, anyway, and he came to me on several occasions for "favors" which were warranted and which I granted. Two years later, he died suddenly. I was asked to be one of the three eulogists, and after the service, his family, which had come all the way from Egypt, said that it was my eulogy that began their healing!<br /><br />On another occasion, an employee took me to court because I had not given him a position for which he was not ready. Years later, he was ready for a junior management position, and I was the only one, other than my boss, in the institute to support him. Based on my recommendation, that person was promoted. Now, he often comes to me for advice. He seems to have become a fan, but at the very least, we have become supportive colleagues.<br /><br />These "other cheek" experiences, I am convinced, do more good for us than for the other person. Either way, it is a win-win situation if we can only follow that teaching.Elizabeth Mahlouhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00334700057953625321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736427810720155529.post-12653205697624614932010-06-14T04:42:55.019-04:002010-06-14T04:42:55.019-04:00I think Ahab and Jezebel might have been even more...I think Ahab and Jezebel might have been even more cynical than you describe. Perhaps the fast was proclaimed to plead with God that the king might get better (he had taken to his bed). After Naboth had been successfully stoned, Ahab staged a miraculous recovery, which made everyone think that Naboth had truly been guilty of placing him under a curse.<br /><br />When I was about 8, I had the opportunity to 'turn the other cheek' myself. Our school had been temporarily relocated to share another school's site. One day, some unknown boy from the other school just grabbed my nose and twisted it practically upside-down! I can remember thinking 'turn the other cheek', and wondering how it applied to noses - perhaps turn the other nostril... Anyway, after glaring at me for a while as I struggled to breathe and my eyes watered, the boy said to me, 'you're weird!' and ambled off. I never saw him again.<br /><br />Not a pleasant experience, but thinking of the teaching gave me a sort of detachment. Also, there was no escalation. The boy had little to boast about and I didn't have to worry about revenge attacks. <br /><br />Children are just as territorial as adults, but even less subtle about it. The Jezreel valley, where Naboth had his vineyard, is still a source of territorial conflict and the location of Armageddon! The Holy Land needs this teaching of Our Lord's more than anywhere.<br /><br />Our Lord did battle with the sword of His word. His honesty was sometimes brutal and He was not afraid to cut through polite conventional behaviour with offensive truths. I think some current conflicts are due to leaders who are less afraid of war than they are of arguing frankly. This is a tragedy.Sarah in the tenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13680566205364331756noreply@blogger.com