{"id":2430,"date":"2018-02-18T13:03:11","date_gmt":"2018-02-18T18:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2430"},"modified":"2018-02-18T13:03:11","modified_gmt":"2018-02-18T18:03:11","slug":"the-parkland-shooting-and-the-1st-sunday-of-lent-year-b-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/the-parkland-shooting-and-the-1st-sunday-of-lent-year-b-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"The Parkland Shooting and the 1st Sunday of Lent, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

1st<\/sup> Sunday of Lent, Year B<\/a>
\nGenesis 9:8-15
\nPsalm 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 (10)
\n1 Peter 3:18-22
\nMark 1:12-15
\nFebruary 18, 2018<\/p>\n

Our readings today begin by taking us back to the time of Noah.\u00a0 The world had given into sin.\u00a0 Noah and his family were the last of the faithful.\u00a0 Because of so much sin, God made it rain for forty days and forty nights till the whole world was flooded.\u00a0 Only Noah and those in the ark with him were saved.<\/p>\n

Once the flood was over God established a covenant with his people, \u201cthat never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood, there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a reminder of his promise God provides a sign of this covenant, the \u201cbow in the clouds<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 We like to see rainbows for their beauty.\u00a0 People will also talk about a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.\u00a0 The rainbow does indeed signify a great treasure to us but not gold.\u00a0 The treasure shown in the rainbow is God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n

The world had become a place of sin leading to the great flood.\u00a0 What does God think of the world today?<\/p>\n

What does God think of the political bickering while people suffer?<\/p>\n

What does God think of the change in morals?\u00a0 Actually, I shouldn\u2019t say \u201cchange in morals\u201d because God hasn\u2019t changed the morals.\u00a0 Many just don\u2019t listen to what God teaches.\u00a0 We give into temptation.\u00a0 Some don\u2019t even see it as a sin, so it isn\u2019t temptation.<\/p>\n

What does God think of the distance between the rich and poor?<\/p>\n

What does God think of the violence in the world?<\/p>\n

What does God think of the shooting at the high school in Parkland, Florida?<\/p>\n

I believe God cries when these things happen.<\/p>\n

God and his angels were there when the shooting happened.\u00a0 God is with all those involved right now.\u00a0 Jesus knows what it is like to suffer.\u00a0 Jesus is walking hand in hand with all those who suffer because of this shooting.<\/p>\n

Of course, people immediately began talking about gun control and what could have been done to stop this before it happened.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it looks like the FBI was alerted of a possible threat but the response was not enough.<\/p>\n

There are students talking now about how the shooter, Nikolas Cruz, was troubled.<\/p>\n

While this shooting was going this week, there was another case where a grandmother found her grandson\u2019s writings that were very disturbed and planned violence.\u00a0 She called the police and they arrested him before anything happened.\u00a0 This week is a lesson in the importance of telling the police when we feel someone is going astray.<\/p>\n

It can be very tempting to rush to put the blame all on the shooter.\u00a0 The FBI will have to answer for the failure to follow up on some tips.<\/p>\n

It can be tempting to push the blame away and say that will never happen here.\u00a0 We think we don\u2019t need to worry.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Satan wants us to think.\u00a0 That way we don\u2019t watch for warning signs.\u00a0 If we see things that should serve as a warning, we don\u2019t really pay attention because we think it won\u2019t happen here.<\/p>\n

I plead with you that if you see behaviors, whether it be actions or just words on social media, that raise concern, please tell the authorities.<\/p>\n

This is a very difficult time for the people of Parkland in Florida.\u00a0 There are 3,000 students at that school.\u00a0 How many lives are forever affected by what happened?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the students.\u00a0 There are the teachers and all the school staff.\u00a0 There are the families.\u00a0 There are all the emergency responders.\u00a0 There are many people directly affected by this.\u00a0 Indirectly, this affects many more in other schools and communities who once again wonder if this could ever happen in their school.<\/p>\n

For us, our worry may pass soon.\u00a0 Parkland is over 1,300 miles from here.\u00a0 Will we remember or will we quickly forget?<\/p>\n

We need to pray for the people of Parkland.\u00a0 We pray that God\u2019s angels be ministering to them.\u00a0 We pray that they know God\u2019s presence among them.<\/p>\n

I hope you all agree with me on our need to pray for these people.\u00a0 There is one more person we need to pray for, Nikolas Cruz.\u00a0 He is the 19-year-old boy who committed this shooting.\u00a0 Often in mass shootings, it seems like the perpetuator ends up being killed too.\u00a0 Not this time.<\/p>\n

In this case, Nikolas survives.\u00a0 There will be those who will call for harsh punishment, perhaps even the death penalty.\u00a0 They will do so in the name of \u201cjustice\u201d but what many will really want is \u201crevenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

We must pray for \u201cjustice\u201d but as the Lord sees it.\u00a0 Those seeking revenge may try to dehumanize Nikolas.\u00a0 I know what I am about say may not be popular but Nikolas is a child of God.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if he was ever told about God and his love for us.\u00a0 Was he ever taught the commandments?\u00a0 If so, why didn\u2019t he follow them?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t make sense.\u00a0 It will probably never make sense.\u00a0 He was a troubled youth.\u00a0 His father died when he was young.\u00a0 His mother died just three months ago.\u00a0 That does NOT excuse what he did but it reveals him as one who suffered.\u00a0 Did he have anyone who loved him.\u00a0 Even if Nikolas doesn\u2019t know Jesus, Jesus knows him and loves him.<\/p>\n

Here, I just want to mention that I am grateful for the small group of men in our parish who lead a Bible study at our county jail for the male prisoners to help them know Jesus.<\/p>\n

There must be consequences for Nikolas\u2019 actions.\u00a0 There can be little doubt that he will spend a long time either in prison and\/or a mental facility.\u00a0 This is part of justice.<\/p>\n

That being said, we need to pray for Nikolas.\u00a0 That is a response of love.\u00a0 Love must be our response for if we respond with hate, the hate will only grow.<\/p>\n

We need to pray for his conversion.\u00a0 We need to pray that he \u201crepent, and believe in the gospel<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 If he does, then, while knowing he needs to accept the consequences of his actions in this world, we need to let the mercy of God fall upon him.<\/p>\n

Pray for all those involved. \u00a0Please pray for Nikolas and you will find God.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1st Sunday of Lent, Year B Genesis 9:8-15 Psalm 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 (10) 1 Peter 3:18-22 Mark 1:12-15 February 18, 2018 Our readings today begin by taking us back to the time of Noah.\u00a0 The world had given into sin.\u00a0 Noah and his family were the last of the faithful.\u00a0 Because of so much sin, …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘The Parkland Shooting and the 1st Sunday of Lent, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,10],"tags":[407,70,405],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Dc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2430"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2432,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions\/2432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}