Jesus died for morons too

I've noticed these past few days that things seem to irk me more.  Two days ago I was sitting at an intersection with a stop sign waiting for a chance to make a left.  The guy behind me started honking his horn to signal that he would rather have a 12 car pileup accident then wait another second for me to make the turn.

I began to have various violent fantasies about slashing his tires.  Even after finally making that turn I was seething about that colossal jerk.  Even my wife who was riding with me noticed my change in attitude.

Over the source of this week such feelings were not isolated incidents.  The random atheist leaving empty-headed comments on Reddit/r/Catholicism (which you should visit).  The jerk who thinks that a combo box means you can spew something you would never say in real life.

These things were getting to me.  Something about them that seemed to rankle me in ways that haven't for some time.  I was thinking about them far more than I should, and my soul was bent out of shape for doing such.

But a funny thing happen yesterday.  A thought popped into my head, as if a small light was shining on my dark thoughts.  "Jesus died for these morons too."

It is a humbling thought to think.  Even if it is the idiot who cut you off or someone worse like Hitler or Stalin, as Catholics we believe that Christ died for them as well.  Not only for all of mankind, but even if only one of us needed to be redeemed, He still would have done the same.

This little idea has some profound implications.  The largest being that we must then believe that there was something redeemable about these people that we regard as "evil."  Certainly they did evil things.  Christ would not have sacrificed Himself otherwise.  But that He did sacrifice Himself means that He not only loved them but they have worth to Him.  So much so that He still laid down His life just to give them the opportunity to be with Him.

This forces a radical shift of view.  We can no longer afford to see those who do evil as "less than human."  Christ saw them as human.  He saw their worth.  It is our duty to attempt to see the world as Christ sees it.

So the next time someone is honking at you to kill yourself so he can go, put down your favorite tire slashing instrument, and say, "Christ died for that moron."  You may still see him as a moron, but hopefully someday we will see Him in everyone.