Hugo Chavez, RIP

God grant him mercy through Christ our Lord.

By the way, I know that in the precincts of Truly True Faithful Conservative Catholicism[TM] such a prayer marks me out as a damn librul and quite possibly a communist.

Actually though, it’s a prayer that takes seriously such damn librul commie ideas as “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death”, as well as “lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy”.

The real tragedy is that I have to actually say that out loud, ahead of time, in order to fend off the accusers in my comboxes and on FB who think the love of enemies is a sign of weakness and who long experience tells me are waiting to pounce in their profoundly better-than-everybody-else purity. One reader told me she was actually seeing people cheering for his death. It’s one thing not to feel too choked up, particularly if you are a Venezualan who has suffered under him. But to rejoice over someone’s death:

“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” – Ezekiel 18:23