Dear Friends,
Once again, our country is faced with a tragic and senseless act of violence against children. Tears and prayer seem to be the only proper response. However, as teachers, parents and grandparents we need to have some kind of answer when children ask questions about such acts of violence. What can we say to them? I would suggest the following as a starting place.
Sin and evil are real.
I know there are those who want to make everything about illness, but the long history of humankind is filled with the reality of sin and evil. It is everywhere in scripture. Right after God makes a beautiful world, our first parents choose to act selfishly against God. The second human act in Genesis is brother killing brother. Mass shootings are a harrowing symptom of a world infected with sin. We cannot ignore the real presence of sin and evil in these moments. While children do not need to know about every tragedy in the headlines, sheltering kids from reality isn’t caring for them—it’s only forcing them to find answers elsewhere.
Our God-given role as parents and educators is to guide our children to the message of Jesus in light of our collective sin. Yes, have open, honest conversations with your children about guns. Yes, talk about a more responsible future for our society and what may need to change. But more than anything else, talk about the battle between good and evil that mass shootings so vividly illustrate. Jesus gave us his response to evil and gives us the strength, grace and wisdom to continue to fight against it. Children must learn to act against the evil intent in their own hearts with the strength of the Holy Spirit. Sin is in every heart and needs to be redeemed.
God commands us not to kill.
God etched this command on Mount Sinai: “You shall not kill”. Jesus takes that command a step further, he called his disciples—and us—to fulfill the second greatest commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. Taking the life of another human rejects God’s role as the giver of life and defies the command to love others as we love ourselves. No matter the motive or circumstances, murder is an abomination in the eyes of God. How should parents and children respond to such a loveless act as a mass shooting? With love. Encourage your kids to reach out to those who are hurting, angry, confused, or lost. Encourage them to offer a listening ear or a gentle hug to those suffering because of this and other clear evils. Encourage them to respond to the existence of such selfish hatred in the world by doubling down on a life of Christlike, sacrificial love.
God is still sovereign over evil.
In moments of great loss, it’s easy to forget God’s sovereignty. And yet God’s sovereignty is also the hope we have: God works all things together for our good, for his ultimate glory and plan. As followers of Jesus, we lean on God’s sovereignty. While this doesn’t diminish the pain and shock of the depravity we see in the world—which we should lament—it’s a supreme comfort to know while God allows good and evil to happen in our lives, God also transforms it with love. We cannot control the world around us, but we can place our actions into the hands of God and let God work through us for good.
Pray.
The offering of “thoughts and prayers” is sometimes mocked in the days following a mass shooting, but that shouldn’t deter us from going to God in prayer. Those of you who pray regularly know that it is powerful. Prayer connects us with divine power. We need to pray: for the victims and their families, for the first responders, the medical personnel, and leaders in the community. We need to pray for God to change people’s hearts, causing them to love good and hate evil. We need to pray for wisdom, for societal changes which might reduce, if not eliminate, mass shootings. We need to pray that God would bring justice to those who would wreak such evil on the innocent.
Hopefully, this will help you in your conversations with young people. On this Memorial Day weekend, we remember those who have died on the battleground striving to make the world safer in the midst of evil. May their memory inspire us to act with courage.
Peace,
Fr. Damian