{"id":1865,"date":"2012-12-18T18:28:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-18T18:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/archbishop-chaput-advents-message-relevant-in-wake-of-tragedy\/"},"modified":"2012-12-18T18:28:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-18T18:28:00","slug":"archbishop-chaput-advents-message-relevant-in-wake-of-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/archbishop-chaput-advents-message-relevant-in-wake-of-tragedy\/","title":{"rendered":"Archbishop Chaput: Advent’s message relevant in wake of tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Philadelphia, Pa., Dec 18, 2012 \/ 11:28 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- The message of Advent is applicable in today\u2019s world, especially in light of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia said in his Dec. 17 column.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIn these final days of Advent, the Church urges us to lift up our hearts and prepare to rejoice,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing remotely na\u00efve in this call to joy; the Church knows the harshness of the world far too well for empty pieties.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tEven in the face of tragedy, such as the recent elementary school shooting in which a lone gunman killed his mother and 26 students and faculty at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Archbishop Chaput said that God is present.<\/p>\n

\tWhen trying to comprehend the violence and evil that took place that day, people will ask how God could allow such suffering to exist in the world, the archbishop noted.<\/p>\n

\tAlthough these questions \u201csound reasonable,\u201d he said, they are \u201call evasions,\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe might as well ask, \u2018Why does God allow us to be free?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\tArchbishop Chaput recalled that humanity has the blessing of being loved unconditionally by its Creator. And although God seeks our love, \u201cwe will never be coerced by the One who loves us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u00a0\u201cGod is good, but we human beings are free, and being free, we help fashion the nature of our world with the choices we make,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\tThat means that while \u201cevil is frightening,\u201d it is unfortunately \u201cnot incomprehensible,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWe know it from intimate experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWhat we never quite expect is for our private sins, multiplied and fermented by millions of lives with the same or similar \u2018little\u2019 sins, to somehow feed the kind evil that walks into a Connecticut school and guns down 26 innocent lives, 20 of them children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\tDuring his time in Denver, Archbishop Chaput had the duty of helping bury some victims of the April 20, 1999 Columbine shooting in which two high school students shot and killed 12 classmates and a teacher before taking their own lives.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cNothing is more helpless or heart-breaking than to sit with parents who kissed their children goodbye in the morning and will never see them alive again in this world.\u00a0 The pain of loss is excruciating.\u00a0 Words of comfort all sound empty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\tEvil that exists in the world, while \u201cbitter and brutal,\u201d is \u201cnot new,\u201d he observed. \u201cNor, in the light of human history, is it a surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn the Old Testament, God revels that \u201clove is as strong as death,\u201d Archbishop Chaput said. In God\u2019s redeeming plan, \u201clove is stronger than death.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe surprise is the persistence of God\u2019s fidelity and mercy. The surprise is that, despite our sins, we still long to be the people God intended us to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe said that \u201cthe only effective antidote\u201d to evil in the world is for each person \u201cto live differently from this moment forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe make the future beginning now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\tHe noted that when young lives are \u201ccut so short,\u201d each memory a parent has of their child is \u201cprecious\u201d and is \u201ccompounded by a hunger for more time and more memories that will never happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tFor this reason, Archbishop Chaput emphasized the necessity of keeping \u201cthe grieving families so urgently in our hearts and prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philadelphia, Pa., Dec 18, 2012 \/ 11:28 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- The message of Advent is applicable in today’s world, especially in light of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia said in his Dec. 17 colu…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nArchbishop Chaput: Advent's message relevant in wake of tragedy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Philadelphia, Pa., Dec 18, 2012 \/ 11:28 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- The message of Advent is applicable in today’s world, especially in light of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Archbishop Charles J. 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