Excerpts from an essay called In All Things by James Martin, S.J. December 23 2015
“God Isn’t Fixing This,” trumpets yesterday's headline in “The New York Daily News,” evidently in response to some politicians’ promises of prayers for the victims of the horrific shootings in San Bernardino.
The implication of this ridiculous and insensitive headline is one of the following:
1) God doesn’t care.
2) God cannot or isn’t willing to act.
3) Prayer is useless.
Let’s consider the possibilities:
1) God doesn’t care.
In fact, God cares more than we can possibly imagine. For God is Love, and so God weeps when we weep and mourns when we mourn. This morning Pope Francis talked about God as a “Father and Mother.” So we can imagine God weeping as much as a father or mother of one of the victims. Can anyone doubt this after reading the Gospel stories that describe what happens when Jesus encounters suffering? When he encounters those who are suffering in any way, his heart is “moved with pity.” The original Greek is much stronger: Jesus feels it in his guts. Jesus is moved with compassion when he sees the poor, the sick, and the outcast. God cares more than we care.
2) God cannot or isn’t willing to act.
This is perhaps the worst conclusion to draw from this story. How does God most often act? Through us! The disgust and anger and sadness that we feel over these kinds of violent acts are precisely God’s disgust and anger and sadness. This is God inspiring us, urging us, begging us to act. This is God’s voice in us, which we know as our conscience. It’s up to us, however, to decide to act, or not: It’s up to us to listen to that voice. So don’t blame God for not acting. Blame us.
3) Prayer is useless.
Another ridiculous conclusion, because prayer is a natural human impulse. In times of tragedy, it is impossible not to cry out to a loving parent. And God who is all compassion hears and attends these prayers, again, as a father or mother would. God responds to these prayers not only through inner consolations, but by urging us (as individuals and in community) to act. In prayer, we can hear God’s voice more clearly. And that voice says, “Do something.”
So the next time you read or hear the headline, “God isn’t fixing this” you’re response should be “No, we’re not listening”.
