Lk 1:39-45 Nearer To Thee
Mary set out in those days and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. …Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
She pretended to be the aunt of one of the young boy’s killed in the Connecticut school massacre. Prior to the release of the names of those killed, she tweeted that she did not know if her nephew had been one of the victims. Later on, she confirmed that indeed he was. She then set up an account for people to donate money to cover the family’s funeral expenses. She was lying.
Just a few days ago, another woman created a domain using a young victim’s name. She did it with the intent of not saving it for the grieving family but selling it to them! How horrible!!! How despicable!
What would you call such people? Mentally ill? Maybe. But are all people who do evil mentally ill? Will this become the new excuse for our greed, self-centeredness, and failings to love others and show compassion for them?
Are all mass murderers mentally ill? Were the mass murderers of September 11th more mentally ill than the young man from Connecticut? Was Adolf Hitler mentally ill because he committed genocide? Do politics create mental illness? Are left-wingers more (or less) mentally ill than right wingers? Are tree huggers less mentally ill than rednecks?
I don’t think so.
So what’s their problem? I would say that they are all spiritually-ill. Yes, the murderer in Connecticut was just as spiritually ill as the murderers at Columbine, on 9/11, in Aurora, in Nazi Germany, etc...
I personally make no distinction between the evil of the massacre in Connecticut with the evil of those who perform abortions. Both are despicable. Both are horrible! I make no excuses at all to this flagrant cheapening of human life. Life is life. A child is a child. A child is always a beautiful and innocent, regardless of whether they are wanted or not. There is something seriously wrong with a person who can tear a child’s body apart five days a week and call it compassion and work.
Yes, anyone who does something evil may be mentally ill, but for sure they are spiritually ill. And we have a name for such people: sinners.
We want to be the master of our life. That’s our problem. We demand ownership because we are spiritually ill. And when we don’t get it, we take it out on God and on others.
The spiritually ill are constantly demanding to get what they want, to do whatever they want, and to live however they want. They demand unlimited “freedoms” or “rights” until they get into trouble. That’s when everyone calls them crazy. How ironic! They’re just living what everyone is preaching! And we call them crazy!
What steps can we take towards healing?
As we approach the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, we approach the most inconvenient child ever conceived from heaven and born on earth! Let us follow the stars that lead to Christ. May we possess Mary’s humility, Elizabeth’s simplicity, Joseph’s obedience and Zechariah’s shock and sense of wonder.
O, if we could only live (and shine) like them!
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