Here I am. I am here on a rainy Sunday when so many are hurting. Bennie said, "The angels are really crying today." Many are wounded by recent events in the church. So many are walking away from their faith because of the few but very public and very deceived and deceitful people who let evil guide them into wrong acts and then covered them up and justified them for years and decades. Like you, I am disgusted. I am outraged. I am broken-hearted.
Today Father Tom reminded us that nothing we read on Facebook or in our email or hear on the news can bring us peace. We keep turning on the news hoping someone will say something that will somehow make us feel better and it all just gets worse. There is no movement or act or even court that can set this straight.
For the victims, the past cannot un-happen. I can't imagine the level of betrayal when it is a member of the clergy who is abusing you, but it must be on a very grand scale. If anything I could do could take away one moment of their pain or suffering (past, present or future), I would not hesitate to volunteer to do so and yet, I know this is a path each must walk for himself.
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In today's reading from Isaiah, we are reassured,
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication:
with driving recompense
he comes to save you.
I am not saying that to victims of priestly abuse. I'm fully aware that words are not nearly enough. I'm reminding myself: I am not in charge. We are not in charge. God is coming with vindication. Our charge is to love and -- like the deaf man in today's gospel -- to open our ears and our mouths.
We must continue to hear the truth and then speak on behalf of all abused and oppressed persons and speak out against their abusers. There can be no excuse. We are called to love and a call to love is a call to action. We cannot sit passively by. We must not turn a blind eye any longer. As a people, we must not turn a blind eye any longer. As a people, we must rest until we are confident that we have driven this out into the light once and for all and that it can never again gain a foothold.
