The coronavirus is not a punishment from God. It is not a severe chastisement dealt to a world that in so many ways sins against the Almighty — by ignoring his commandments and teachings.
Tag: punishment
Stephen Colbert, J.R.R. Tolkien, John Henry Newman, and the providence of God
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Recently, Stephen Colbert gave an interview in which the depth of his Catholic faith was on pretty clear display.
Discussing the trauma that he experienced as a young man — the deaths of his father and two of his brothers in a plane crash — he told the interviewer how, through the ministrations of his mother, he had learned not only to accept what had happened but actually to rejoice in it: “Boy, did I have a bomb when I was 10; that was quite an explosion . . . It’s that I love the thing that I wish most had not happened.”
Abolish the death penalty
When I hear about someone being murdered, I say a prayer for the victim — and for the perpetrator.
Someone might question my praying for someone who has committed a crime. However, there are many circumstances that lead to that act of violence against another person.
We don’t know everything involved in that person’s life. Sometimes there may have been a lifetime of abuse he or she endured. There may have been mental illness leading to that act of violence.
Although we may be tempted to call only for justice for the victim — an “eye for an eye” — we also have to consider the possibility of forgiveness and healing for the murderer.