Dina is ravished, for which the Sichemites are destroyed.
“The sons of Jacob answered Sichem and his father deceitfully, being enraged at the deflowering of their sister.” (Genesis 34:13)
The Douay-Rheims Bible explains, “Deceitfully”: The sons of Jacob, on this occasion, were guilty of a grievous sin, as well by falsely pretending religion, as by excess of revenge.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraph 2483:
Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead someone into error. By injuring man’s relation to truth and to his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man and of his word to the Lord.“
Sin often leads to hatred. God’s laws of love, forgiveness and peace are for the good of souls.
“The saints have no hatred, no bitterness; they forgive everything, and think they deserve much more for their offenses against God.“ -St. John of Vianney
“And when they had boldly perpetrated these things, Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: You have troubled me, and made me hateful to the Chanaanites and Pherezites, the inhabitants of this land: we are few: they will gather themselves together and kill me; and both I, and my house, shall be destroyed.” (Genesis 34:30)
As followers of Christ, we are to be careful in giving good example with patience.
“Those who are brothers according to faith to the injured one, if they are in the priestly order, like Levi, are among the subjects (Simon, in fact, is interpreted as ‘obedience’). They are extremely displeased if somebody who is their intimate friend according to faith is offended. However, they should not proceed to demand blood, nor should they expect extremely severe punishments for the corruptors, so as not to listen to Christ, who said to them, ‘You have made me hateful, so that I am now evil in the eyes of all the inhabitants of the land.’ It is necessary to remember what Jesus said in reproof to Peter, who was holding his sword, ‘Put up again your sword into its sheath: all those who take the sword shall perish with the sword.’ In fact, it is not fitting for us, who are inclined toward piety in God, to be armed with swords but rather to be patient. Even though some people want to persecute us, we must reproach them to be good. We must be patient but never silent, as we must refer to him who judges rightly. Those who want to avoid destruction must be careful not to leave the tabernacle of the father, that is, the house of God, in order not to be received into the herds of the heretics and other strangers. After moving out of the father’s tabernacle, Dinah was brought to the house of Shechem. She would have never been reproached if she had stayed in the paternal houses and had lived constantly in the holy tabernacles. David declares how that thing is beautiful and very useful by singing, ‘One thing I have asked of the Lord, this I will earnestly seek: that I should dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I should behold the fair beauty of the Lord and survey his temple. For in the days of my affliction he hid me in his tabernacle: he sheltered me in the secret of his tabernacle.’” -St. Cyril of Alexandria
David’s psalm quoted above shows the beauty of safety and protection in cloistered religious life.
Discussion: When have we seen revenge make things worse and not bring about the peace that Jesus calls us to?
Women's Prayer Group In Christ 