This is my blood

I often have found that when I hear, read or pronounce a sacred text of the liturgy or the Scriptures that a word or phrase may come alive with unexpected power. It may bring insight or understanding. It might bring consolation or healing. Sometimes it pierces my heart and convicts me leading to repentance. Even though it may be a familiar text, it seems as if I am hearing it for the first time. I suspect that this is not an uncommon experience for many people of faith.  
 
Today, when pronouncing the words of consecration at Mass, these words struck me powerfully: “This is the chalice of my blood, which will be poured out for you and for many.” The Lord’s blood is still being poured out for us. It is poured out and offered sacramentally at Mass for our salvation and redemption.
 
But, it also is being poured out in and through the members of his body in the violent and senseless mass shootings that have become all too frequent in our country. This is what struck me as I raised the chalice of Precious Blood at Holy Mass.
 
On Sunday, Sept. 1, we heard of yet another terrifying act of brutal gun violence when a driver passing through Odessa and Midland, Texas, randomly killed at least seven and wounded numerous others. In August, 22 people were shot and killed in an El Paso Wal-Mart and nine more in a Dayton, Ohio, historic district. Dozens more were wounded in these attacks. Mass killings involving firearms have become tragically commonplace as they occur with increasing frequency across our country.
 
I don’t claim to have the solution to this complex issue. Many solutions have been proposed and warrant consideration. These include more strenuous background checks for gun purchases, limiting the types of weapons available for purchase, increased attention to mental health services and other common-sense proposals.
 
It will be up to all of us to address the root causes of the violence that is tragically symptomatic of something deeply wrong in our society. It will take more than new policies and laws to root out this problem. It will require a new heart. The violence we are experiencing with such increased frequency speaks to a loss of respect for the dignity of human life in our throw-away culture. It speaks of the existence and power of evil in our society that attacks and destroys with such indiscriminate and cold-blooded indifference.
 
Instead of clinging to the self-interested defense of our status quo, let us pray that our minds and hearts might be open to the Holy Spirit’s guidance to seek and find fresh solutions to this bedeviling problem. Let us pray for all victims of violence, especially those families and communities that have been affected across our nation this year. May God give us wisdom and the courage to act and stem the flow of blood being poured out through gun violence.