from blog.adw.org by Msgr. Charles Pope
Every now and then the Lord just has you look at something in depth and experience it to the top. It was that sort of weekend for me and the Lord was clear that he wanted me to meditate deeply and experience personally the tragedy of the taking of human life. Put more positively, the Lord wanted me to see the dignity of human life and grieve it’s loss. My lesson came in three stages. Continue to read Msgr. Pope's post here...
Maybe, you had this experience this weekend. I know that I did. I was at a grandson's birthday party on Saturday. The television was on when the news of the assassination attempt on US Rep Gabrielle Giffords scrolled across the bottom of the screen. Later when I got home. I found out that one of the victims was a nine year old little girl named Christina Taylor Green and that she had just received her First Communion. A little later, I found out that Christina's dad was a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and her grandfather was Dallas Green, former manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. I couldn't get the fact that Christina's dad and grandfather will never be at another birthday party for Christina out of my mind. Reading the volumes of information about Rep Giffords, Christina and the other victims, and doing numerous posts about the tragedy on the three blogs, made the tragedy not just something that happened to a bunch of people who I didn't know in Tuscon, AZ, but a personal experience for me, as a man's wife is fighting for her life, a judge, husband and father is taken away from his wife, children and granchildren; a grandmother, who moved from New Jersey to Arizona, for her health is taken away from her grandchildren and family; and dear Christina, the youngest of all the victims, just elected to her school council; her interest in politics and making the world a better place cost her her life. Trying to find something positive about this tragedy is difficult, but it did cause me to pause to relflect on the sacredness of all human life, whether the life is an unborn baby, or a baby with Down's syndrome; whether it be the life of a Rhodes Scholar, or a high school dropout; whether it be a life of a young, vibrant person, or a veteran who has no arms or legs, whether it be the life of a productive member of society, or a bed ridden elderly person who in the world's eyes has no more to give; whether it be the life of someone we agree with politically, or someone with views totally opposite of ours. We are gifts from God and deserving of the dignity and respect that comes with being a child of God...Deacon Gerry
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