In this week's gospel passage, Jesus counsels his disciples to avoid retaliation -- telling them to "turn the other cheek" as well as to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Needless to say, that's a particularly difficult teaching for modern sensibilities, conditioned as we are by the predatory "law of the jungle" that governs many of our interactions with one another. All too often in our world, fear rather than love is the coin of the realm -- and strength is usually rewarded instead of weakness. What Jesus asks of us flies in the face of our instincts...
