I'm sitting here with a lot on my mind. Which isn't anything that unusual if you know me to any degree. With all that I see and feel it allows me to put some focus on prayer. Even if it's just me having a conversation with God.
The world by and large is a violent place. Our society has this nasty and rather unhealth obsession with it. We (as a society) encourage it when something happens that we disagree with. A vile kind of extremism that both sides of any given debate will quietly endorse. The logic being is if X does Y even in the past then it is perfectly fine to threaten and intimidate here in the present. Making excuses and justifications as if this is something to be rewarded and celebrated.
As world events unfold, I've been told more than a few times that the root of this evil is in fact religion. Given who I am this is something that I completely disagree with. Yet I cannot help but feel the anger and fear that exists in our world and the overall temptation to lash out. Such feelings are downright scary in the age when social media can dictate our desires and actions.
In my own reflections on this I've come to accept that it is my faith in Christ that tempers me. With my focus on Christ, it keeps me grounded in what is truly important in this world. My passion and desire to serve Christ using the talents that God has given me. This desire allows me to put the events of the world into a perspective of clarity and understanding that only the Holy Spirit can give.
Some are calling for violence. A Night of Rage that reminds me of even darker moments in the world history. My own goals for the evening will be to counter this violence with the peace that Christ gives to all of us. I know many of my fellow Christians will be doing the same. We know that violence is never a solution to a problem. No matter who is doing it.
Social justice cannot be attained by violence. Violence kills what it intends to create. Saint John Paul II
May Christ bring peace to our violent obsessed society.
