From the Parish Priest – Fr. Romey Rosco
We hate to see parents suffering over the loss of innocent children. We also hate to see children suffering the loss of their innocence as they face the tragedies of life before they can cope with it. As Christians, we should all be adding our tears to the tears of those who bear the horror of the recent high school “massacre” in Florida. Even God weeps at the suffering of all His children, including you and me.
So, where is God? Why won’t He reveal Himself and show His tears to our generation in an unequivocal way? Indeed, why won’t He just wipe away our lack of faith in the One Whom we cannot see? His people have always been persecuted in one bloody way or another (usually by non-Christians). But now, our sick, demented American culture has created in our children’s generation a “hardness” toward violence, making such violence not “unusual” but rather the norm in their young lives. They bully one another or they isolate themselves by burying their minds into violent video games, not realizing the great harm that is caused by their rejection of community activity and fellowship.
I believe they learn this at home, living (or merely cohabitating) with parents who buy them the gadgets that now run their lives into oblivion. In my day, I had to relate to siblings, classmates and authority figures or else! Problems in those relationships had to be worked out, not ignored, and decency and respect had to prevail. And that’s why we went to church. Praising God in worship, hearing the Scriptures, absorbing the sermons, giving a sincere confession, and receiving Holy Communion: all of this was (and still is) for our own good. But again, the hardness our children are experiencing due to violence is getting in the way, causing them not to take seriously the lessons that previous generations were taught.
“God is with us. Understand all nations and submit yourselves, for God is with us!”
God the Holy Spirit remains, but can we stand it? And could He accept our attitude towards Him, towards His Church and our fellow man? And when the Savior comes again, we will have to face up to our sins: what we have done and not done. We will be measured by His measure. So, instead of blaming God for what we’re doing to ourselves, we must repent and vow to follow the paths of righteousness that He has laid out for us. These paths lead us to Him. Renounce the ways of Satan, and follow Jesus.
From The Weekly Bulletin, Vol. XLV No. 7, 18 February 2018
Sts. Peter & Paul Romanian Orthodox Church, Dearborn Heights MI
