Although most of us refuse to admit it, even to ourselves, there is something, hidden deep within us, that makes us so angry that we wonder if violence is the only solution. We don’t characterize it as violence; in fact, we are appalled when we actually see the results of violence. Then there is the part of us that closes our eyes to violence.
We really don’t know how to handle anger. We want to slough it off, think of it as disappointment, sometimes even as justice. We use language that reduces the effect of violence, but our deep anger is still there. Yesterday Nicholas Cruz was sentenced to life without parole under 34 separate counts.
Termed a shooter, but what he really did was murder. Most Parkland surviving family members are angry, really angry. Given the chance to speak, they cursed him to hell, wished him a painful death, and screamed out to the court, “Where is justice?” They wanted the same kind of violence for him that he had wreaked on the 17 killed. We must ask ourselves, how would we respond? I ask myself: How would I respond?
Prayer for the Day
Angry, we shake our fists towards the heavens, O God,
Hoping that you will give us what we say we want;
Wrathful, we say we want justice but it is really vengeance,
And we cannot understand how violence goes unpunished.
But you, O God, make us look deep inside ourselves,
To realize that violence for violence is not the way.
In the name of the One who calls us to nonviolence
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Vengeance is the act of turning anger in on yourself. On the surface it may be directed at someone else, but it is a surefire recipe for arresting emotional recovery.
- Jane Goldman, English screenwriter and author
The highest mark of a civilized society is not the rapidity by which it exacts vengeance, but the ability to hold victim and victimizer in its compassionate heart.
- Gregory Boyle, S.J., Director of Homeboy Ministries
You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
Leviticus 19: 17-18