Prayers

Today is a tragic day.  Another school shooting.  More children murdered.  Teachers murdered.  The mother of the shooter murdered.  Why?

Why?  Why?  Why?  Why would someone be so evil as to do something so violent that affects, not only the small school community, but affects everyone of us who treasures life?  What happened in the shooter’s young life to make him do something so violent?  Was he abused?  Was he bullied?  Did he and his mother have an argument?  Did they have a volatile relationship?  Was he mentally ill — maybe schizophrenic or bipolar or depressed or any of a number of other mental illnesses?

Did you hug your children, your grandchildren, your children’s friends, your nieces, nephews, cousins, parents, grandparents, and neighbors extra tight today?  I did.  My 30 year-old nephew lives with me while he completes his college degree.  When he came home this afternoon, I hugged him — extra tight.  I am so very saddened by the tragedy of today, as I know anyone who is reading this is.

As a priest, I am frequently asked the difficult questions that arise during tragic events such as the school shootings in Connecticut, or Virginia, or Colorado, or the mall shootings in Oregon, or Utah, or the church shootings in — name your state.  Why?  Why, if God is so loving and omnipotent and omnipresent and omniscient,  does He permit such tragedy to occur?  I do not have the answers.  All I can do is offer comfort, compassion, and prayer.  I can hold a hand, put my arm around a shoulder, give a hug, shed a tear.  I can pray that the people affected will feel God’s presence and know that He loves them.  Too often, people affected by tragedy become angry with God.   Some people, sadly, become so angry with God they no longer believe in Him.

God loves each and every one of us infinitely more than we can imagine.  God is love.  1 John 4:8 states, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”  As with any good parent, He allows His children to make mistakes, to make errors in judgement.  Unfortunately, some of His children make such horrendous mistakes as to affect an entire community, an entire country, the entire world.  What I try to do, what I try to express to those who are suffering, what I pray we can all do, is find some good in each tragedy that touches our hearts.

• When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.”  To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers — so many caring people in this world.  ~~ Mr. Fred Rogers

I was educated in Catholic schools — from kindergarten through post-graduate school.  Prayer was one staple element of the curriculum.  One of my dear friends, who was educated in public schools, remembers saying a prayer before being served cookies and milk in kindergarten.  “God is great, God is good, Thank you God for this good food.”  A simple prayer of blessing for the food — in a public school.  A question to ask ourselves is, “Why is God no longer allowed in the schools?”  Why have the atheists won?  The above prayer is not just Christian, it is not just Jewish, it is not just Muslim — it is universal.  The majority of people in this world believe in some sort of higher power.  Why does the minority have more power than the majority?

• Dear God, Why do you allow so much violence in our schools? ~ Signed, A Concerned Student.
• Dear Concerned Student,  I’m not allowed in schools. ~ Love, God.

It is something to ponder.  It is something to pray about.  Depending on how saddened your heart is today, maybe it is time to do something.  If each and every one of us who believes in a higher power — God — were to write a letter to our legislators, could it be possible that God would be allowed into our public schools?  Would having God in the school have prevented today’s horrendous murders?  Maybe.  But, we will never know, will we?

As a Jesuit, I pray the Breviary each day; I pray the Psalms.  Please pick up your Bible and open it to the Book of Psalms.  Read through them to find comfort during this time of national grieving.

• Psalms 23:  The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.  He restoreth my soul;  He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (KJV).
• Psalms 46: 1-2:  God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea . . .  (NRSV).

God bless the souls of the precious children and adults who were murdered in Connecticut.  God bless all the families affected by this horrendous tragedy.  God bless our nation as we, once again, grieve together.  God bless each and every one of us.