![]() Most of these are small-calling your mother, really listening when people speak to you, expressing condolences when someone is grieving, mowing the neighbor’s lawn. Peter, it doesn’t matter as much as loving people in real, tangible, self-sacrificing ways. Not how often you pray or how much you tithe or how many people you’ve slept with but how hard you love. “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples,” Jesus tells the Apostles, “if you have love one for another.” (John 13:35) This intense love Peter talks about doesn’t just cover over a multitude of sins, it’s a litmus test of faith. ![]() I wonder how many people look at us and say the same. “See how they love one another!” they would remark. In the early Church, Tertullian tells us that pagans were struck by the witness of Christian love. It’s not sacrificial love, exactly, but it’s a start. Stop analyzing whether you agree with the way they live and just bake them some cookies. Especially the ones who are different from you. Not just your everyone-is-my-neighbor neighbors but the actual people on your street. Love your families-Mother Teresa says it’s the best way to promote world peace. Not just when tragedy strikes (as it will, and soon) but now. Pray for that day when there are no more tears, yes, but work now to love intensely. Even with all the ugliness in the world, the Spirit of God still prompts people to unfathomable kindness.Ĭhristians, we need to be at the forefront of this movement of love. And while I won’t pretend that this outpouring of compassion and generosity covers over the evil of the crime, it is a consolation to know that here on this earth we are loved. When tragedy strikes, people of every faith and no faith act with powerful love toward strangers. Peter: let your love for one another be intense. Somewhere, deep down, is written on the human heart this plea of St. People drove 18 hours to bring Golden Retrievers to comfort the survivors. ![]() ![]() Chick fil-A opened on a Sunday to serve the first responders. Revelers acted as living tourniquets for strangers, holding them close to slow the flow of blood. Muslims donated blood despite fasting for Ramadan. Because every time this happens-and God help us that we live in a world where things like this happen again and again-the world steps up. We choose to pray as we weep over the viciousness of such a hate crime.Īnd yet mixed in among all the anger and sorrow I’m feeling is a tremendous amount of pride. We choose to hope, as the world erupts with blame and accusations. I’m praying for the victims by name, offering my Mass each day for a different slaughtered child of God. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. So we cling to that hope for ourselves and beg mercy for those whose lives were taken this week. You were made for the joy of heaven, the promise of comfort offered to all who mourn and weep. You were made for life eternal where the faithful departed rest in the embrace of God. “In the world you will have trouble,” Jesus said, “but take courage: I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33) And so it’s no wonder that this world is a vale of tears, a crucible of sin and suffering.īut you were not made for this world. Weeks like this have me clinging to the Cross and the promise of a world where death has been destroyed and every tear wiped away.Īgain and again Scripture tells us that we weren’t made for this world. Here I am again, alternately heartbroken for those who suffer and frustrated at how quickly pain becomes a cause for further division. 1 Peter 4:8Īt the end of an ugly week, I find myself trying to remember the last week when there wasn’t a mass shooting or terror attack or other horrifying headline to rock the world for a few minutes before we all got back to our own lives. Isaiah 25:8Ībove all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins. The reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces. When tragedy strikes, people of every faith and no faith act with powerful love toward strangers
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