Frodo Baggins never met Gollum before he set out on his journey in “The Lord of the Rings,” but he still had a rather poor opinion of Gollum.
Gollum possessed the One Ring long before Frodo and became wretched because of it. This leads Frodo to say, “I do not feel any pity for Gollum. He is worse than a villain. He deserves death.” Gandalf the wizard points out to Frodo, “You have not seen him.” Frodo responds, “No, and I don’t want to.” Fast forward a few hundred pages and long into Frodo’s journey, he finally meets Gollum. Frodo’s friend Sam tries to convince him that they need to get rid of Gollum somehow, even by killing him. Yet Frodo remembers Gandalf’s words and advice, and responds, “Now that I see him, I do pity him.”
I find this change in Frodo remarkable. He goes from wanting to kill one he thinks of as an enemy, to having pity on him. He has this change of heart simply because he finally sees Gollum. Gollum is no longer just an idea in Frodo’s mind. He’s a living being, with a sad story of his own that has led him to become the way he is. And this moves Frodo to pity him who, not long before, he thought worthy of death. This pity proved to be decisive for the fate of all in Middle-earth (read “The Lord of the Rings” to find out how)!
This change in Frodo is a great example of what it means for us to love our enemies as Jesus teaches us. I think it’s often the case that those we think of as our enemies are people whom we have never met. We might not actually call them enemies, but we probably can think of people or groups that we are set against, opposed to, or disagree with. But often they’re an idea in our minds. It’s easy to not like an idea. When thoughts or feelings of hatred or animosity come up against an idea, it’s not really an issue. It’s a lot harder when we actually meet someone who would be our enemy. Now it’s not an idea in my mind; it’s a real person who will be affected by my thoughts, words, feelings and actions toward them — just like me. This human encounter moves us to a human response. Frodo calls it pity; we might call it mercy.
This is the beginning of following Jesus’ teaching. Moving from the idea to the person opens us to a real encounter and draws us into the space of mercy. Once we step into that space, Jesus directs us to action. It doesn’t have to be a tremendous thing, but there is some action that we can do when our hearts move into that space of mercy. We can speak well of them, pray for them or be ready to help them. These simple actions come from our recognizing that this is not an idea I’m dealing with, but a real person, just like me.
Be not afraid to encounter those who might be considered an enemy and to be ready to show mercy to them. It’s difficult but entering that space of mercy is becoming more united to the merciful heart of Jesus who loves his enemies. For “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners (i.e. enemies) Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).
Father Aamodt is chaplain for Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria.
Sunday, Feb. 23
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
