Desert father Abba Anthony said,

“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, ‘You are mad, you are not like us.’ ”

While reading the news this morning I was struck with how out of joint our world is. Here are the main headlines from CNN this morning: “TV Contestant slain; suspect had remains in stove; Mob beats woman, burns her; TSA agents attacked; Woman shot in head in road rage incident.” I must admit, I literally felt sick to stomach and and thought, our world is insane. I actually watched the clip of the woman being kill for inadvertently burning a Quran. It was horrifying. The interview from the Director of Religion was just as dreadful as he unflinchingly justified the barbaric behavior.

While doing my prayers afterwards (sorry for the backward order) I came across the above quote from St. Anthony. Mad, indeed.

Consider praying this Prayer of Peace by St. Francis today:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Lord Jesus, may I, and my community, be a counter-force for peace in this world! Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. 

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