On the church page for March 12, there appeared an article, “Pope’s new book: Violence never in God’s name.”

The pope’s assertion, true for the most part, is not entirely true. Jesus himself said, “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent bear it away.” (Matthew 11:11, 12).

Now, what did Jesus mean when he made that statement, which, at first glance, can be one of the most confusing, most misunderstood verses in the Bible to the untrained spiritual reader.

Jesus, after extolling the merits and greatness of John the Baptist (because of John’s sacrificial life), was speaking to the crowd about the kind of vengeance we direct toward ourselves to tame and overcome the sinful tendencies of our own inordinate natures and not the kind of violence we direct toward others.

So, the violence we turn inwardly against our own sins or evil tendencies becomes a godly violence because it is being exercised for a godly purpose — righteousness in our own lives. Oftentimes, that is necessary in dealing with hard, habitual impulses.

Ambrose Flynn, Auburn