The Miles Christi, the "soldier of Christ," wages war ...always in the mode of love...love of the adversary, the antagonist, the opponent. The Catholic combatant... military or culture war, politics, athletics, theology and ideology...holds the enemy in esteem and mercy. The absolute enemies are: the world, the flesh and the devil.
Maximillian Kolbe, prior to his arrest because of his opposition to Nazism, was visited by the Nazi Gestapo. He received them courteously, respectfully, in kindness.
At Appomattox, after a brutal, bloody war, Grant fondly greeted Lee and his generals, many of them friends from earlier in the US Army or West Point. Graciously he allowed the starving Confederate troops to retain their horses and handguns and issued 25,000 rations of food. He ruled out trials and prison for them.
Charles-Henri Sanson, executioner under Louis XVI, from a long generational line in that work, killed 3,000, including that king and Robespierre. After the death of his former monarch, he sought out a priest and had a mass said for his soul. For that act, he himself could have been guillotined.
Saddam Hussein was escorted to his execution by the American soldiers who had him in custody. Before his death he shook the hand of each soldier who had treated him with dignity.
John Paul II was shot by Mehmet Ali Agca, then visited him to forgive and advocated for his release.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson waged a venomous campaign against each other for the presidency in 1800 and then didn't speak for years. They reconciled, wrote 158 letters to each other, and died fast friends.
Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford in the 1976 election but they became friends, worked together on projects and Carter delivered Ford's eulogy.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia were judicial adversaries but dear friends.
NBA is filled with competitor-friendships, Magic/Bird the most famous.
At the time, William Buckley would argue fiercely with John Kenneth Galbraith or Daniel Patrick Moynihan, but they would also joke and laugh together, obviously fond and respectful of each other.
It is markedly a masculine trait to fight and compete without personalizing, resenting, emotionalizing.
It needs, also, to be a Catholic trait...this for several reasons.
First, obviously, we are to love our enemy. This means also our political, ideological or theological enemy. It means we forgive him; empathize with his suffering; protect him; respect him; see the best in him; pray for him.
Secondly, the word "catholic" (from Greek meaning "the whole") indicates inclusive of all. It means the welcoming and embrace of all that is good, true and beautiful. This includes seeing the good in the adversary. A Catholic is like a good politician who opposes another one day only to ally with him on a different issue the next. A serious sin, for a Catholic, is to deny, ignore or minimize a real good in the other, even the opponent.
This means that whether we stand on the left or right side of the current divide, we see the good in Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Mandami, Tucker Carlson, and Kamala Harris.
Generally, my wife and I watch Bret Baier on Fox at 6 and Erin Burnett on CNN at 7. I read the NY Times throughout the week along with conservative sources. I don't want to stay in my bubble. I want to seek the truth in a variety of sources.
Gloria Steinem just passed. She was a prominent advocate for abortion and an adversary of the Catholic Church. As a child she took care of a mentally ill mother. This was apparently an immense burden. She later noted that she was "a very small mother of a very large child." She later had an abortion and fought for her entire life for that right. She seems to have been a conscientious and compassionate woman. It makes sense that she would protect women from a burden they could not handle, an unwanted child. Many advocates are similarly motivated by a dread for such a burden. This is not to agree with the position. But to understand it with some compassion. Gay militance is in part a call for dignity and respect for the person: with that the Catholic is in accord.
Standing upon our heritage, the graces within the Church, the shoulders of the saints, and the eternal love of God, we Catholics enjoy a peace, a confidence, a certitude...and can be gracious and generous with our adversaries.
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