Something about hate ...

From another blog/anonymous author...

Hate often makes sense. And if you disallow that emotion in others, you will never get to understand why they hate you. It's not just because they are bad or defective (though they may be) but because they perceive you as a threat.

And you very well may be.

It might be instructive to lay down your defensiveness and investigate.

The outcome of this may not be the Kumbaya of moral equivalence and Star Trek one-worldism. You may decide that you are a threat and that's just fine with you. In a world well characterized by John Kekes as full of "scarcity, flaw and contingency", being a threat to someone is well nigh inescapable. Mother Nature made the rules long before you were born.

So if you find yourself (personally or as a group) hated by someone, ask yourself why...and be prepared to find an answer other than that you are an innocent and blameless object of mindless and irrational hate. Hate often has a clear mind and a functioning reason. But with different interests from yours. - anonymous author

Some thoughts.

I've been thinking of hate as it relates to hate groups - there seem to be so many now, huh?  Some Catholic bloggers write about their fears, their experiences, their predictions of persecution by hate groups, while at the same time protesting that we Catholics are beginning to be perceived as a hate group.  So everyone hates one another?  Not everyone - but clearly there are haters amongst every group.  Even devout-faithful Catholics can sound pretty hateful at times.  Traditionalist Catholics - the really rad-trad variety, may be the most well known for statements which sound at best intolerant, at worst, outright hateful.  Think of Bishop Williamson's remarks over the years.  I know some people will disagree in the way I expressed that - my apologies.

Since I began the blog, I've received enough veiled expressions of dislike, contempt and open hostility in my com-box, as well as read such comments on other sites, to know what I'm talking about.  Some religious sites, though not necessarily rad trad, actually have a reputation for hate-filled remarks in their com-boxes.  Arrogance and contempt often spills out of a spiteful heart.  I've read in places where even bishops seem to be asserting, 'the time for turning the other cheek is over!' 

Really?  What many of us seem to lack - besides charity and patient endurance - is an understanding of the cross, the intersection of authentic Christianity - where justice and peace embrace, mercy and truth kiss.  Imagine Edith Stein screaming at the Jews in the camps that they must convert or else they will be damned, or that they brought such a fate upon themselves - rather she suffered with them, walked in peace through the midst of them, sharing their shame.  Imagine Maximilian Kolbe barking orders and spewing contempt at the Nazi guards, condemning them to hell - rather he submitted like a lamb to the shearers.

People may hate us for a reason.  I know I've pissed off enough people to warrant their contempt.  St. Peter warns us not to do things like that to deserve such scorn, but rather to be virtuous, full of charity, and so on.  In effect, we should strive instead to give our opponents no reason to hate us, and if they do, to bear the shame as Christ did.  He walked in peace through the midst of them, and thus we ought to try to do likewise, counting it pure joy to suffer for the sake of his Name - if indeed we are suffering for his sake...  Some of us may be suffering from something else.

But don't pay any attention to what I say.