Prayers for a Ruthless Dictator

"Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles"

~Proverbs 24:17

I first found out that Muammar Gaddafi was killed where most people get their news, Facebook. I couldn't believe it. It took a while to get Saddam, and even longer to get Bin Laden. I'm not used to going in there and getting the guy done in a few months. Though I should say that from day was I was against the Libyan War, and to this day I am still against our presence in Libya. You won't see me flip-flop on the issue like so many Republicans have now that Gaddafi is dead.

At first I was surprised that we got him. Then I was a bit happy. A ruthless dictator- some would say terrorist- is dead. But then I thought, "No, wait. Didn't Gaddafi deserve his day in court like Saddam?" A NATO drone hit where Gaddafi was which caused him to hide in a hole. Libyans found him, grabbed him, dragged him through the streets while beating him. Mind you, he was still alive. He was then shot in the head by a Libyan. 

No matter what the man did, he was still a human being. Just because he didn't value human life it doesn't mean that we can treat the man like this. It's inhumane. I still haven't seen the video. I can't believe CNN showed it. The description alone is graphic. I don't want to see someone go through this whether he was evil or not.

A couple weeks ago I was at Sunday Mass and during the Prayer of the Faithful the lector read, "For those who have passed away." Usually, I like to think of a person who has died and pray for them. And when I was thinking of who had died I remembered Gaddafi. So I prayed for him. You may say, "How could you pray for such an evil man? What about those that he's harmed?" I pray for them too. From birth to his death Gaddafi remained a creature created by God with dignity even though he didn't acknowledge that same dignity in others. It doesn't mean he forfeited it.

When Saddam was captured I remember watching the news with my grandfather and I said something to the effect of, "I hope they kill him and he burns in hell." His response was, "No, I hope he repents and goes to heaven." We talked a bit about it, but I was young so I don't remember the entire conversation. We then turned to Fidel Castro. My grandfather, a Cuban exile, left Cuba at the age of 16 without his mother or father and placed with a family in Washington state. He barely knew English. If there was anyone my grandfather would be "justified" in wishing eternal damnation and worse on, it would be Fidel Castro. His response, "No, I hope that he repents before God and is allowed into heaven."

That day I learned something. No matter who you are, how bad you've been, no one deserves hell. I mean, hell wasn't made for humans, it was made for the devil and his followers. Our Christian faith tells us that we are to love our enemies and pray for the conversion of sinners. A prayer St. Maximilian Kolbe would pray was, "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee, and for those who have not recourse to thee..." We are to love our enemies and pray for them. We are to acknowledge that they have dignity no matter what and don't deserve to be dragged and beaten through the streets. We are called to pray for others, no matter how bad they are. Remember, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

I found this video by Pastor Francis Chan (author of Crazy Love) on the death of Bin Laden, and I think this equally applies to Guddafi and any evil person.