The Saint

I read about it in the newspaper.

It shocked and saddened me.

An older priest in a local church in Normandy was brutally murdered in the church.

I know he is with the Lord, comforted, beyond pain and suffering and fear. But…

“Thou shall not commit murder”, says the Lord God. It is a sin to kill.

I sit with a lot of mixed emotions: I weep for the local church, the people who knew the old priest. I feel for the ones who are left behind, in fear and confusion, in the bewildering feelings of sorrow, rage, and fear.

I know the IS-crowd want war. They want to provoke reactions; but we belong to Christ, the One who conquered death. No, we will not fight on their terms. We will ask the King of heaven, the King of this Universe, to act on our behalf. He is mighty.

The unfathomable is that Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners; He died to rescue the perpetrators, the evildoers.  It is almost unethical! But such is the love of God.

We will not, we refuse, to be enticed to hatred. We know the better way: we live in forgiveness, and all our feelings we take to Him.  He has shown us what love is, in Christ Jesus. He has given us new life and a new relationship with God. We go to Him. There we may pour out our hearts – our anger, our spite and malice… For, yes, we are fully able to have such reactions. But, as we bring it before the risen Lord, and confess all which is in our hearts – all we know of – he is there. He sustains us.

I am at peace.

wild flowers for saint Jacques