3rd Sunday of Advent
Cycle C
December 16, 2012 7:30 and 9am
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air
Newtown, Connecticut
Yesterday
afternoon at the 4pm Mass, I gave a homily that I had prepared and finished by
early Friday morning.
But
then, later last evening I finally had a chance to watch some of the television
coverage of the tragic shooting at the school in Newtown, Connecticut. I listened to the news journalists and also
listened to a father named Robbie of one of the six-year-old girls who had been
killed.
At any
rate, I decided before going to bed to “junk” my prepared homily. Instead, I want to share a few thoughts on
this mass shooting and what this might be saying to us.
Maybe
we and all Americans, certainly all people of faith are in the position of the
people in today’s gospel. They ask John
the Baptist: “What are we to do?”
John
has been telling them to repent to get ready for the coming of the One promised
by God. Even in this tragedy, I believe
God comes to us in some way – as unintended and unwilled by God as this event
is.
So if
that is true, then we too can ask the same question as those in the gospel. “What are we to do?”
“What Are We To Do?
My
first thought centers on the Christmas carol Silent Night. We sing, “Silent Night, Holy Night.” I have begun thinking that maybe that
night could be holy because it was silent.
Mary,
Joseph, the shepherds – they are not recorded as saying a thing. Only the angels are singing.
So
maybe their silence enables the Holy One of God to be born. Maybe their silence was the only appropriate
response in the presence of the Holy One of God.
Right
now we, all Americans, need some silence in the face of this tragedy. Only in this silence can the Holy One of God,
Jesus, comes to us and speak to us at this moment.
My
second thought is that we must connect the dots between words and actions. What we say and how we say it sows the
seedbed for behavior, and that can be very inappropriate and bad behavior.
Hateful,
poisonous words about those with whom we disagree have become common. We hear this way of talking on certain
programs on certain news networks on TV and radio.
We
might hear this in social settings right in this community. We might even see improper modeling of this
behavior in some public figures.
Sometimes
even in the name of religion and of God and, as the saying says, standing up
for what you believe, we hear words that are venomous and poisonous and
hateful. We must connect the dots.
This
languaging creates an environment not just for bullying, but for extreme
hateful behavior. We just have to stop
this.
We need
to stop listening to such programs on TV.
We need to turn them and maybe their audience will dry up and they will
have to turn to some better form of programming.
We need
to steer social groups who are engaged in this poisonous talk in another
direction and if we cannot, we should just leave or not go back. I am sad to say I have had to do some of
that.
Jesus
says that at a certain point, just leave and move on to where the peace of God
can reign and be heard by others and by ourselves. We should not feel ashamed to do just that
My
third thought is that we have some hard economic times here in America. These have been difficult and frustrating
years for some individuals and families.
As we
try to work our way out of the economic collapse, we need to refrain from
scapegoating. It is so easy to scapegoat
one person.
When
ancient peoples selected a scapegoat – a real animal – they would kill it. We cannot allow that violence to grab hold of
us as a people and culture.
I am
afraid that some of it has already gotten a hold. We need to stop scapegoating and start
accepting collective responsibility – all of us.
Only
then can we constructively move to solutions.
Only then can we avoid the unfair and unhealthy expressions of anger and
frustration.
My fourth
thought is that let’s use our good mental health community. When we see someone in trouble – a family
member, a friend, a fellow employee, a neighbor – let’s make a caring
intervention.
Let’s
try to guide that person to the right kind of assistance. We need to feel a sense of responsibility for
one another, have the courage and take the risk to guide and help.
Isn’t
that the gospel? Isn’t what a gutsy, but
real-life love of neighbor must mean at times?
And my fifth
and last thought for this morning will I bet be controversial but I believe it
and am going to say it. We need some gun
control in our country.
I just
do not understand why any private citizen needs an automatic assault weapon. We need to get over the idea that in this and
maybe other areas, our rights are unfettered.
By the
way, I believe it is a flimsy reading of the Constitution to say that there
shall be no limiting of the right to bear arms.
I do not believe our Founding Fathers ever envisioned the situation we
are in today or intended such an unfettered right.
I saw
the movie Lincoln last Sunday – and it
is a great one, well worth seeing. At
one point, Lincoln is talking about the abolition of slavery.
He says
that letting go of the right to oppress others might lead us to find other
rights that we have not yet discovered.
What a great insight.
Letting
go of our right to bear certain kinds of weapons – I am not saying all weapons,
but the kinds I have referred to – this might lead us to discover more fundamental
rights that we have – like the right to expect and build respectful processes
for resolving differences and finding solutions to problems.
Maybe
we Americans would regain some of the leadership and respect we have lost in
the world if we did things like this.
And, more to my concern, then we for sure would be living the gospel of Jesus
Christ and be Christian and Catholic Christian in a much clearer way than we
have been.
Conclusion
Well,
all of this written between 5:45 and 6:45 this morning.
There
is more to say, much more, but another time.
That is enough for now.
