Have you ever nursed yourself to sleep carrying vengeful, punitive thoughts towards those who hurt you, upset you or annoy you?

When someone does you wrong, when someone makes life hard for you, indeed when someone constantly irritates, undermines or simply “gets to you”, it’s natural to be angry, to want to curse or get back at them.

Eric Lomax, a British war veteran, longed to do this as he experienced frequent flashbacks linked to the shocking torture he suffered as a prisoner of war on the Burma railway.

Indeed, Eric suffered constant nightmares and, in an effort to deal with these demons, he sought out and tracked down his tormentor. He did so with the purpose of confronting him.

Eric travelled to South East Asia with his wife to effectively “shirtfront” Takashi Nagase, a former Japanese wartime intelligence officer. Takashi had retired in Thailand to work on the old prison site that was now a war museum.

And here Eric was in for a surprise. For Takashi was also deeply affected by the war. A profound sense of guilt and remorse had struck him down and, consequently, Takashi spent most of his life leading pilgrimages to the old prison site. He did so as a means of trying to make amends for his terrible deeds.

Moved by this scenario, Eric stopped, sighed, turned to his wife and cried: “Patti, some time the hating just has to stop.” And with this confession Eric and Takashi went on to become good friends.

Jesus calls each one of us “to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” This is a tough call. It’s a really tough call. But this is what Jesus says.

So, whether it be a deep hurt related to the past or a niggling, ongoing irritation today, Jesus calls on us to forgive and to love.

Such forgiveness encourages us to be reconcilers in a community where grievances, grudges, resentments and rivalries destroy relationships and take up far too much time and energy. Such love inspires us to be peacemakers in a world where hostility, hatred and a thirst for revenge carry far too much sway.

Friends, today take time to stop and think about this Gospel mandate. I believe it’s something we must never ignore.

John Barr