April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
HOMILY
Where was God in Newtown?
I felt I should say something from the pulpit about the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., but I was at a loss for words. How can you comprehend the incomprehensible?
The question I am often asked is, "Where was God when these shootings occurred?" How could a supposedly all-loving God allow such a thing to occur? We think of God as all-powerful, and our faith can be shaken when we see something like the Connecticut shootings.
God will never break a vow. He gave each of us the gift of free will and promised to never interfere with our free will. We were created in God's image, and our free will is what makes us most God-like. The intention is that we use this free will for good.
Unfortunately, this free will can also be used for evil. People abuse their free will when they drink too much and try to drive. Wars are caused by exploiting God's gift to us. God did not kill those schoolchildren; they were killed by a man who chose evil over good.
So, if God is the not the cause of evil, nor does God prevent the evil that is done to us, what use do we have for God? Do we have an aloof God who sits on some lofty perch while He watches us struggle and suffer on this earth? Why do we need God at all?
At a concentration camp, the Nazis wanted to set an example to keep their Jewish prisoners in line. They lined up the prisoners, picked a small boy at random and hanged him in front of the others. One man cried out in anguish, "Why does God allow this? Where is God?" A man standing next to him pointed to the dying boy and replied, "There is God, hanging from a rope."
Where was God at Newtown? He was with those children and teachers, hanging from a rope. God gets no pleasure watching us in pain. God does not ignore us when we hurt; to the contrary, God is never closer to us. It is here that we encounter the power of the cross and the crucifixion of Christ.
This is Advent. Christmas is next week. Why am I talking about the crucifixion? The cross was with Jesus from the beginning. Joseph and Mary were turned away at the inn. Jesus isn't even born yet and He is already experiencing rejection. The magi bring Jesus myrrh, a spice used to prepare the dead for burial.
The cross shadows each of us just as it shadowed Jesus. The cross and death are the hidden companion of us all. The cross is central to our faith and our salvation. We can try to ignore it, but the cross will not be denied; it follows us everywhere.
However, we have hope in Jesus Christ, who carried the cross for all of humanity. In the crucifixion, we learn that suffering is not for nothing. We have a God who understands our suffering in a most profound way.
When Jesus is crucified, He encounters all the hurt and humiliation any person could ever experience in a lifetime: rejection, abandonment, loneliness, emotional strain, excruciating physical pain and the knowledge that His life's work was for naught. Most of Jesus' friends have left Him; He thinks that when He dies, all His life's work will die with Him.
It is unimaginable that one person could experience all the pain of a lifetime in just one event, but Jesus does. This must be more than coincidence. It can only be explained as the manifestation of all the evil the world could muster for one diabolical purpose: the destruction of God.
Next week, we will celebrate the incarnation of God into our human history. God so loved the world that He became one with the world through Jesus Christ. The response from the world was to gather together all the evil it could in an attempt to destroy God. Through the cross, it would appear that evil had achieved its greatest triumph: the death of God. In the crucifixion, all of hell rejoiced - for three days.
God has the last word. God takes the cross and claims it for Himself. It no longer means the death of God; it now means the end of death. Through the power of the cross, we find that there is no dark corner of this earth where we will not find the presence of God. There is no calamity that can ever befall us - not war, disease, not any tragic accident nor any school shooting - where we will not find God's love there to embrace us.
Through the cross, death becomes the purpose and the culmination of everything that makes us human.
When we contemplate the crucified Christ, we can think about those poor children and their families. Where was God when this tragedy occurred? He was right there, embracing the dead and comforting the living.
Through our pain and tears, we can find comfort that these children did not walk alone on their final paths to Calvary. Jesus already cleared the path to Calvary, and He helped carry them down that path to new life.
Christmas is almost here: the incarnation of God into our human condition, from birth to death. In the incarnation, Jesus took and carried all our crosses, and in doing so, He has set us free. Despite our sorrow today, the incarnation allows us to experience true freedom in our lives: freedom from all distress and anxiety; freedom to live our lives in happiness; and freedom to die in peace without fear, because we know that death has no more power over us.
At its Christmas pageant last weekend, St. Mary's parish in Cooperstown included a remembrance and prayers for the children who lost their lives in the Dec. 14 school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Twenty pink candles were lit and, after the service, sent to St. Rose of Lima parish in Newtown.[[In-content Ad]]
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