If you say you love someone, as much as possible, you want to “Save the best for last”. If there is something to correct in the attitude and way of thinking of the person you love, you will try on many ways to bring out the best from that person. Even if it would come to the point when you almost suffer every bit of pain because that person opted to just listen to what he thinks is true based on his opinion, yet, you will still strive to save him/her from further hard luck as consequence of his/her stubborn actions and decisions.
In effect, you would even be so persecuted, much that it would lead to disagreements, conflicts, fighting and the worse, broken relationships: friendship, boy-girl steady, parent-child, husband-wife. “more often than not”, you would struggle, yet be tempted to just give up your fight of winning their heart because you only get too pained while they would never want to realize & understand your intention of helping them to be healthier in mind.
But because you love that much, just as what Jesus did in today’s gospel where He suffered much to death, yet on the 3rd day He rose again and did a “sign of peace” to all especially to those who betrayed and denied Him, you also need to die to the pain brought by misinterpretations and misunderstandings and extend your humble “Shalom” to the person/s who’ve hurt you so much instead of holding on to grudges.
“Shalom” is our first-aid to rescue and save our relationships before we could eventually open the minds of unwilling hearts. Wounds may be fresh and just as Jesus did in today’s Luke account where He showed his bruised hands and feet to show that He is real, we can also tell the person/s concerned how much they’ve hurt us so that they would realize how much forgiveness we have humbled down for them.
It’s never easy though swallowing your pride when you allow “peace” despite the fact that you were pained just because you want minds of people whom you care for, to be stretched in new directions. Just like what Jesus had to go through after His resurrection when some still did not believe, He had to extend “Shalom” as a sign of compromise until He was eventually able to open the minds of His disciples.
To charge this to our present time & relationships specially within our families, parents should also strive to fulfil certain three-fold mission:
(1) no matter how much kids would complain and unfavourably react against the worthy things which we want them to indulge in, we should always strive to find ways so that our children’s minds would eventually be opened to the reality that we are preparing them for the future which they would soon have to manage on their own;
(2) we have to first learn before our kids can. We should strive to “walk our talk”: as in, if we tell them to be positive, we should also illustrate such positiveness in our words, actions and perceptions;
(3) we, as parents should commit ourselves to be “at peace” with one another, treating each other as “partners” instead as each other’s competitor while doing things together to fulfil God’s will in our life time.
These missions are ideal – difficult to accomplish in reality because along the way, the opponent may use even your own family to challenge your faith – while they may cause you a lot of silent cries and may bring you to stressful situations which would later on break you down and eventually prompt you to give-in to your human frailties.
However, because you have committed yourself to spread the good news that we can enjoy repentance and forgiveness in every Shalom, your family would soon understand that the sacrifice which you are striving to endure today will be the royalty that they will benefit from specially by the time when we are already called to claim the glory of Eternal Easter which was already won for us by Christ in His Resurrection.
Let every “Shalom” aid us while we BOUNCE to rise up to our indifference in our family and even in any kind of relationship 🙂
Vision it Out w/ Gail S. Montero 