Letter to the Editor: Love thy neighbor

Dear Editor:

As Catholics, Christians and people of goodwill all over the world I think we’ve had enough of hate, anger, tearing down and saying down with this or down with that. We have seen hatred against Black people, against Latinos, against Asians, against Caucasians, against people of mixed ethnic background, against Democrats, against Republicans, against conservatives, against liberals and many more. When we engage in hate, when we engage in resentment, when we engage in tearing down we cannot build.

I am a firm believer that tolerance is not enough. We are not called to tolerate our neighbor but to love our neighbor. I’m a firm believer that even those who are angry and resentful and prideful, those who are acting out in violent ways, those who are judgmental and filled with self will need our prayers. We cannot be victorious over evil with more evil.

This is why Christ calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves, of course after loving God with all our heart and our mind and all our strength.

If we as a culture do not move away from the violent things that we are saying and doing about and to each other we will suffer tremendously by tearing each other apart. Let's not fall into the trap of blaming "Those people who are different from us."

Remember that the greatest social movements in history were done to provide freedom and goodness for human beings. No social movement is perfect, and it never has been. Let's be more patient and compassionate and understanding of one another.

Fr. John Higgins
Downey