On a run this morning, many sights pass me, but one leaves an impression.
A mother seeing her little child off to school, the school bus is waiting to pick the child up from outside their apartment. The mother is not rushed, and saying some words to the child, maybe words of encouragement to get through the day, to face life at school. Maybe much like how we encouraged our children when they were at that age to go to school.
As I proceed on through my run, the terrible news that I saw on my mobile the first thing in the morning (yes, this is a bad habit, I need to get rid of scrolling through my mobile first thing in the morning!), about a shooting at a Minnesota Catholic School Mass that left two dead ( an eight year old and a ten year old) as well as seventeen injured, it seems so senseless.
Why does He let such things happen? Why did the children deserve to go so early in such a brutal manner, and what about the state of mind of their grief-stricken parents and relatives? Surely it is the strong faith of the parents that made them want their children to go to a Catholic School. I wonder what words these parents would have told their children, as they dropped them off for this first day of the school year? Could they ever think their wildest imagination, that such a horrible thing would happen and they would never see their children again? What memories can they hold on to of their children?
In life, even if the reverse happens, in the normal cause of events, when we lose our parents due to age, there is so much grief from the children. I heard these poignant words at a funeral last week, from a son who lost his only surviving parent, his mother:
I still remember the day so clearly, even though it was decades ago. I was about six or seven years old and my parents had taken me to Kamath hotel. They ordered a Vada for me, and watched me happily as I ate. When I asked them why they were not having anything, they said they were full. Late night, as I was falling asleep, I overheard them saying that they had no money, only enough for a vada and wanted me to have that.
His eyes well up with tears as his voice chokes as he says these words to me. Adding, “They sacrificed everything for a better life for their children.”
The love of parents for children and children for parents is said to be one of the highest forms of selfless love. From talking to parents who lost their child early, I know from them the loss of child never leaves them, the dull ache within them caused by the gaping void of their sudden departure. All that is left for these parents are the precious memories now. The toys, the clothes, the uniform, the child’s room are visible remainders for them of a situation that is unalterable.
With all these thoughts churning in me, and in a disturbed frame of mind I head to the midday Mass, and the opening verses from the day’s Gospel Mt 24:42-51, call out to me:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
Yes, I never can really know when my Hour comes, when I need to be called to meet my Creator.
Just as the little children attending Mass in that School were unexpected called to Him.
I need to be awake and prepared. Always.
And also see Him in seemingly meaningless situations like the Minnesota School terrorist attack.
May God be with the parents and relatives and other victims affected. May the survivors forget the trauma of the incident that occurred in the holiest of places.
Some words of the recent address of Pope Leo to altar servers stand out for me amidst all this chaos ,
“Dear Altar Servers, the celebration of the Mass saves us today!” he said. “It saves the world today! It is the most important event in the life of the Christian and in the life of the Church, for it is the encounter where God gives Himself to us in love, again and again”.
One thing is sure.
We have two new angels above looking out for us from above now.
They are in His presence forever.
