Recurring specters of unhappy memories challenge many individuals in their private lives; but such specters are not always personal. The conscience of this century is perplexed by the recollection of certain historical events that seem too horrible to contemplate.
In the face of such recollection, humanity may resort to denial or escape. Alternatively, thought may become transfixed—at once fascinated and repulsed by the very images of suffering that are its torment, yet revisiting them over and over again.
But the redeeming love of God is always present to remind us of the reality and all-power of good and our potential for demonstrating it. Cruelty, prejudice, and resentment do not form a litany that humanity is doomed to repeat. Each individual is free to break away from this pattern —rooted in the perception of the material senses— and to be comforted in heart and mind with the Christly view of life that is both higher and deeper, bringing the assurance of God's never-failing love for every one of His children. Christ Jesus embodied this love. And while atrocities of many sorts have been wrongfully perpetrated even in the name of Christ Jesus, the unconditional, ever-present love of God and the obligation of each of us to love one another truly define the Christianity Jesus established. And God's love alone can free us from both the impulses that foster evil and the harmful, mistaken impression that evil is an actual power apart from God.
