The recent news of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, broke my heart. I experienced a rush of emotions. I was immediately overwhelmed by sadness and I prayed for everyone involved. Soon, my thoughts included frustration and confusion. Perhaps you experienced these same emotions. How can we stop these senseless killings, I wondered?
I am sure none of us can truly comprehend the unimaginable pain of those families who lost loves ones. One minute they were kissing their loved one goodbye in the morning and wishing them a good day at school. The next minute, they are trying to come to grips with the reality that they will never see and hold them again.
What is wrong with our society that tragedies like this continue to happen? The comprehensive answer to that short question would take a group of the world’s best psychologists years to answer. Christians are quick to point out that taking God out of our society is a major contributing factor. Others believe the cause is easy access to automatic weapons. Still others believe social media is to blame. Some believe it is the breakdown of the traditional family. I have no doubt each of these play some part and, of course, there are many other factors as well.
Politicians will come forth with ideas to address this issue – providing more security in schools, arming more school resource officers, and stricter guns laws.
Neither the government nor new legislation will fix this problem, however. These things will merely treat the symptoms.
If we, as individual Christians, set forth through prayer to bring more Christ-like love, compassion and understanding into the environments in which we live, we could collectively bring an impact to the underlying issues of hate, anger and divisiveness that are destroying our world. Are you prepared to do your part?
We must end the incessant vitriol, polarizing bitterness and nonstop anger with those with whom we disagree.
God is love, and clearly the world needs more love and more prayer. I have nothing to add that Jesus and Scripture have not already said on this topic. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul tells us, “Pray without ceasing.” In Matthew 22: 37-39 Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
With these words in mind, I ask you to do two things:
First, pray! Pray for the souls of all victims of crime and violence. Pray for healing and peace for their families. Pray that one day they will, with God’s grace, find forgiveness in their hearts. Pray for an end to violence in our world. Pray for the mental wellness of our young people. Pray that we can bring God back into society.
Pray that all people will do as Jesus instructed us to do: love God and our neighbor.
Second, reach out without delay to those who are meaningful in your life, and tell them you love them. The uncertainty of life is demonstrated in the violence we see around us. Life is precious and fleeting, and we cannot say “I love you” too often. The world is starving for more love. God is love and love is of God – and our world needs more of both.
My friends, our world is broken. You and I are called to make a difference. We are called to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world. Let’s brighten up the world today with the gift of love.
Brian Pusateri is the founder of Broken Door Ministries (www.brokendoorministries.com) and a member of Immaculate Conception Parish in Hendersonville.