Reflect today on all relationships that are difficult for you

“But I tell you, don't offer resistance to those who are evil. When someone hits you on the right cheek, turn the other to him too. "Matthew 5:39

Ouch! This is a tough teaching to embrace.

Did Jesus really mean this? Often, when we find ourselves in a situation where someone pulls us or hurts us, we can tend to immediately rationalize this passage of the Gospel and assume that it does not concern us. Yes, it is a teaching difficult to believe and even more difficult to live.

What does it mean to "turn the other cheek?" First of all, we should examine this literally. Jesus meant what he said. It is the perfect example of this. Not only was he slapped on the cheek, he was also brutally beaten and hung on a cross. And his response was: "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing". Therefore, Jesus does not call us to do something that he himself was not willing to do.

Turning the other cheek does not mean that we have to hide another's offensive actions or words. We shouldn't pretend we haven't done anything wrong. Jesus himself, in forgiving and asking the Father to forgive, recognized the serious injustice he received at the hands of sinners. But the key is that he didn't get carried away in their malice.

Often, when we feel like another slurry of mud towards us, so to speak, we are tempted to reject it immediately. We are tempted to fight and repel the bully. But the key to overcoming another's malice and cruelty is refusing to be dragged through the mud. Turning the other cheek is a way of saying that we refuse to degrade ourselves into foolish quarrels or quarrels. We refuse to engage irrationality when we meet it. Instead, we choose to allow another to reveal their malice to themselves and others by accepting it peacefully and forgiving.

This is not to say that Jesus wants us to live perpetually in offensive relationships that are more than we can manage. But it means that every now and then we will encounter injustices and we will have to deal with them with mercy and immediate forgiveness and not be attracted by the return to malice out of malice.

Reflect today on all relationships that are difficult for you. Above all, consider how ready you are to forgive and turn the other cheek. That way you could simply bring yourself the peace and freedom you seek in that relationship.

Lord, help me to imitate your great mercy and forgiveness. Help me forgive those who hurt me and help me rise above all injustice I encounter. Jesus I believe in you.