________________
EDWARD MCCORKELL
L.M.: That's the hardest thing to do. As Jesus said, resist not evil.
E.M.: He said: "love your enemies, love your enemies.” Jesus meant what he said. But we say: love your enemies? Look what he did to me. Look what they've done to me. Well, it doesn't matter what they've done to you. We are really in a sense a kind of lightning rod. It may be nothing personal. But rather, they have some negative self-image, or some past experience from their youth, that we trigger in them. For instance, I may come across as a kind of father-figure. But a person may have a father who is very dominating, and that turns them off to me.
L.M.: You would be an ideal father.
E.M.: I was fortunate to have a beautiful father. My earthly father was a saint, I really believe he was. And my mother too, was a very holy woman. That experience we have of a good father is a tremendous help in relating to our heavenly Father, if one's father has been compassionate and loving. It is very tough for those people whose fathers are tyrants.
L.M.: I understand that you have made friends with people of other religions over the years.
E.M.: Many years ago, I got to know a Hindu friend who was been here for midnight Mass with his family. I met him on a plane when I was coming from Rome, and he was returning from India where his parents were. That was the beginning of a long friendship. He is a very good and devout Hindu, and his wife is Hindu. He shares his Hindu tradition with me, and I have shared the Christian tradition with him. I don't try to make him a Christian.
L.M.: He doesn't try to make you a Hindu either.
E.M.: The first time his wife came here with him was at a Mass in the chapel. When it was time for Holy Eucharist, she got up with everyone else. Though my Hindu friend knew that they shouldn't receive communion. But I was giving out the communion, and when she came up I just gave it to her. I didn't refuse her, though in the past some priests would do that. I knew that this was the right thing to do, and that Jesus wanted me to give himself in the communion host to her.
89
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
