Disdain for human life. The elevation of the self. The obliteration of God and all His goodness. And a lack of love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We live in a country fraught with people who not only advocate, celebrate, and profit off of the death of others, but who thrive on the evil they propagate.
Padre Pio tells us “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” The Bible tells us we should have hope in the Lord. But how do we attain and then preserve this hope in a world so full of the evils of man when, just in the last few days, for example, we have seen several instances of how terrible man can be?
First we heard about the Minneapolis police officers involved in the arrest and death of an African American man, one of whom knelt on this man’s neck as he pleaded for his life. Violent protests soon erupted in that same city. Groups of people began looting businesses already hurt by the coronavirus lockdown orders. They stole TVs, clothing, and other merchandise from a Target store. They set fire to businesses. The pictures show not only devastation and hopelessness, but anger and hatred as well.
In other news, as more statistics come in about coronavirus, we see that it was the policy of “several states [to send] positive COVID patients to nursing homes, to free up hospital beds.” It has long been known that the elderly are among the most vulnerable and would suffer the most because of this virus. We should have protected these people fiercely, yet many saw them as less valuable or expendable and put them in harm’s way.
Then we see that “comedian” Kathy Griffin has again made the news with a disturbing remark suggesting she’d be happy with President Donald Trump being injected with a syringe full of air.
Lastly, the Center for Medical Progress has released testimony of some Planned Parenthood executives admitting that “Planned Parenthood was involved in obtaining ‘donations’ of fetal tissue organs from women having abortions, only to illegally sell it to middle-man organ procurement companies for profit.” Once again, babies are seen as commodities and not human beings.
Throughout our country we see disdain for human life at all stages and a blatant disregard for morality.
When we lose God
Racism and a hatred of others exist because some people believe they are better than others and that they’re somehow above or more important than other races or groups of people. This happens when we put ourselves and our desires above God. When we lose touch with the God who loves us infinitely more than we can ever love or can even imagine, we begin to see others as less human. We elevate our own selves and our wants—material things, power, money—and we become willing to destroy anyone or anything who gets in the way.
Christ taught us: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you” and “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Are we treating others as we would want to be treated? When we someday look Christ in the face and see all the things we did to and for others, will we feel proud? Or will we feel ashamed?
St. Thomas Aquinas once said: “How can we live in harmony? First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God.”
We cannot expect harmony here on earth if we are overcome with hatred and allow that hatred to spill over into our actions toward others. People like those mentioned above add fuel to the proverbial fire and keep us from living in harmony. But we have free will, and we can make a choice to love God and love His children. We can make a choice to bring the light of Christ and peace to our world. It begins with us individually and spills out to our children, our family, our friends, and our community. Look inside yourself. Are you madly in love with God? If not, why not? And if so, how do you show it?
The answers to these questions will determine how you treat others.
All lives matter. And when we start teaching this from the time our children are small, they will grow up living this truth. We will not have people in positions of authority who disregard pleas for life or put the vulnerable at risk. We will not have comedians who wish death on someone. We will not have people chopping up babies and selling their body parts. And we will respect and protect every single person from creation until death. That is the hope in Christ that we need. That is the hope that will save not only our country, but our souls.
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