Fr. Bob
In the last few months within a short span of time, on three different occasions we saw innocent people savagely murdered. First at the beginning of the summer there was the murder of Minnesota speaker of the house Melisa Hortman and her husband Mark and their dog Gilbert.
Then at the end of the summer at an opening day school mass at Anunciation Parish in South Minneapolis there was the murder of two children with dozens of others injured. And then this week there was the assassination of political activist Charley Kirk.
When we see horrific violence like this it leaves us numb with outrage and questioning the sanity of the world we live in. But when faced with evil our faith moves us to take action. But how? There are no easy answers for any of this, but a story may shed some light on that question.
About a week after the school shootings at Anunciation Parish in South Minneapolis protestors staged a demonstration in front of the church. They were lobbying for a ban on assault weapons. But one of the picketers carried a sign full of profanity .
The principal of Anunciation Grade School who rides his bike to work saw the sign as he neared the church. Peacefully, he approached the protester and in effect told him. This is not how we do it. Whatever we do needs to come from a place of love, not hate. Them he told the protesters, “We have to be better if we want something to change.”
If we are to be true to the Gospel that’s how it works. We take action to confront the evil around us. But it needs to come from a place of love, not hate. If it comes from a place of hate, we become the very hate we rail against.
Hate was heaped upon Jesus as he hung from the cross. The cross was an instrument of torture the Romans used to humiliate the one who hung from it. On the cross Jesus experienced all of that. But on that cross Jesus did something that changed everything. He forgave those who put him on that cross. “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.”
Because of that the cross is not seen simply as an instrument of torture. The feast we celebrate today, the Exaltation of the Cross reminds us that the cross of Jesus is the greatest symbol of hope there is in the world. It tells us that in the end love triumphs over hate, and that goodness ultimately triumphs over evil.
This may all sound good, but we need to be honest. When we see innocent people suffer at the hands of their perpetrators our first instinct might be to seek vengeance. It’s only human to feel that way. But if we give in to that urge there is a cost. As was said, we become the very hate we rail against.
There is another way. We can learn from the one who hung on the cross. As Jesus did, we can surrender our lives to God. Only then can we learn to forgive. And only when we’re learned to forgive can we be instruments of God’s peace.
It seems to me that the principal of Anunciation Grade School has learned, to forgive and so is an instrument of God’s peace. With God’s grace may we learn to be the same.
This is what the world needs to see in us who claim to be Catholic, who claim to be Christian. They need to see in us love, not hate. As the Paschal candle is lit let it be our sign of hope as we stand to sing one verse of Lift High the Cross.