People have tendencies to react to situations of injustice committed against them based on the standards we have learned from situations that are experienced in our environment. Hence, violence begets violence; revenge begets revenge. As long as we get what we want by what we think is right, only then can we be satisfied. This had been the standards set by the culture that our world has created for us.
The notion of “divine justice,” in which God rewards the good and punishes the bad may have influenced this. However, God’s ways are not man’s ways. It baffles us when God decides to offer his Divine Mercy before rendering judgment and justice. God in his great mercy intervened in history so that in time man may change his ways.
Earlier in the 5th chapter of Matthew, Jesus preached the Beatitudes. He had come to turn our world right side up in order to bring peace and order to us which starts only when we change the way we think. It was said that where evil exists, grace abounds more. If instead people would return love for evil, then we will soon see things turn towards the good of all. The struggle would be a very hard one because it is a struggle against our own fallen ego and pride.
Do we allow the grace of the Holy Spirit to operate in us and to transform our ways of negative reactions? Has pride hardened our hearts to the point of rejecting the grace that can free us from our fallen selves and free us for doing what is good in God’s eyes?