Living with the Unacceptable

CCC 2734 Filial trust is tested - it proves itself - in tribulation.

News of violence, especially connected to churches, can stir fear, anxiety, or anger. These emotions are understandable. They reveal our respect for life and the sacredness of the places we worship. But if left unchecked, they could pull us away from peace, prayer, and one another.

How do we persist in these times? Faith does not mean we never feel afraid or angry. It means we turn toward God with our emotions:

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in You” (Psalm 56:3).

Our emotions are a gift of God, a reflection of our humanity, and a source of information about what we value and what we need. The Christian approach is to acknowledge our feelings as part of our human experience without letting them drive our actions or harden our hearts.

When fear arises, we might gently name it in prayer: “Lord, I am afraid.” If we are angry, we might breathe and ask, “Lord, help me to love my enemy.” These small acts of turning toward God cultivate what the Catechism calls filial trust, which is the childlike confidence that God is with us.

This trust is hard, and only develops as we consent to letting go of trying to dictate the conditions of what would make us less anxious or less afraid. But when we receive the grace to trust, we can stop getting in our own way.

From that place of trust, we can act with wisdom rather than reactivity. In the case of violence, we can support reasonable safety measures, comfort one another, and still keep our hearts open to the people we encounter at Mass and in our communities. We do not wall ourselves off. We do not hide the beauty of the Gospel. We continue to profess our faith. We are, after all, a church that seeks to welcome the brokenhearted. Courage, in the Christian sense, is not fearlessness but love choosing to endure.

We can continue to come together in worship, not as those untouched by fear or anger, but as those who bring their experiences to the altar and leave with the peace of the Father. As Jesus told His disciples: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” (Matthew 14:27)