Meditation for September 11, Antipathy

The Venerable Marie of the Incarnation, an Ursuline of Canada, gives this excellent advice, "Exercise yourself in pious, charitable affection towards those for whom you have a natural antipathy; take their actions in good part and judge of their intentions ac­cording to the order of charity."

That's lovely advice, but difficult to practice.

There can be some very perverse characters in a community. One can easily see, and above all sense in various ways, those who differ. Such differences come from temperament; from early for­mation; from different types of educations received or acquired; from heredity; and from difference in age which separates one generation from another.

Practically speaking, some individuals are out of harmony with nearly everything. All these things are mere nothings, of course, but mere nothings have a power of accumulating and finally create among souls, if not barriers, at least occasions of irritation, manifested at first by a lack of sym­pathy, which grows little, by little, if one does not watch, into a veritable antipathy.

There is nothing intentional in it. One would not consent really to do wrong for anything, or to wound anyone at all in the com­munity. But it happens more quickly than one thinks. "She is so irritating! How can a person say such a thing? How could anyone think of acting that way? It was she, again, who must have thought of that, made that complaint, pushed that measure ahead. She never misses a chance." And thus we arouse our­selves and then bristle up.

We must above all not give expression to any of this, but keep these unseasonable agitations to ourselves. It is much better always to try to put the best interpretation on the actions of others. The height of charity, if we can reach it, is to endeavor in a natural way, of course, avoiding all artificiality or anything stilted, to render service to someone who irritates us, and to asso­ciate more with those persons whose companionship costs us something.
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)