As I was reading about the alienated young gunman who shot down other young people in Oregon, this famous quote from Mother Theresa came to mind:
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“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love.
“There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love.
“The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty — it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There’s a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”
(From A Simple Path: Mother Theresa)
Most of us are old enough to remember when these mass killings just didn’t happen in our country.
It seems to me that that’s a commentary primarily about the poverty of spirituality that leads to loneliness, alienation, despair and hopelessness.
All of which can, and all too often do, lead to violence in a culture that is awash in violence.
Lord in your mercy … hear our prayers.
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