One Body
Trapped. Put to shame. Confused. Lost. Powerless. Outcast.
These and many more similar emotions are ones, NO human being, or animal for that matter should EVER experience in a lifetime. These feelings can lead to bad decisions, anxiety and sometimes violence. Given all the riots and protests this past week, I can’t help but be sad. First I’m sad because the events which caused people to step up and out should never have happened. Further, I’m even more bothered that there have been people holding onto so much pain, hurt and resentment.
Jesus endured ridicule, betrayal and severe insult. He suffered such humility and pain in the final hours of his life on earth. It was horrific. He was not the first to endure such horrific treatment and unfortunately we continue to see terrible violence happening in the world today. Its unimaginable that with all of the resources we have in the world today, that people are still hurting, wrongfully.
It’s not just something we see on the news. The violence and violent acts are in movies, on TV shows in music and video games. Violence is a hobby; it’s entertainment. I doubt many of us even really know how ‘desensitized’ we have become to it.
There was a mom I met through the parenting classes I taught for a few years. She had recently been released from jail. She had a 14 yr old son, a 10 yr old daughter and a 4 yr old son. All of the kids were in the custody of her Step-Dad. When she got out of jail, she couldn’t even live with her kids until she took my class and several other things, including going to court to petition for custody.
She was in a group who only had two other parents in the group, so the time I spent with these three was real quality time. It took her a couple of weeks together before she began to really share her life story and sometimes she’d come early or stay late, so we ended up having a little one-on-one time.
It was during one of these moments when she shared with me some photos her older son had shared on social media. The photos weren’t of people, instead I saw images of several types of guns and drugs. She told me that her son had been arrested after a police chase. She said he had stolen a car and the police finally caught up with him. She said she was glad because at lease she new where he was and what he was doing while he was in police custody.
She was hurting. I was hurting. This woman’s life looks so different than my own but I could feel her pain. In the moment when she shared her truth, nothing else mattered. We sat there as two mothers, she sharing her story and me listening, taking some of the load from her to carry.
The worse part is that this wasn’t even the worse part! She was able to share these photos and the story without much emotion. However, when she then told me that he 4 yr old son thinks his brother is a hero because he stole a car just like on the video game they play. Her younger son thought it was so cool his brother had been in a police chase and had a gun. This is when she began to sob.
In her situation, she has many struggles ahead and is carrying around a lot of pain caused by past decisions. This can weigh a person down and cause them to feel trapped, lost and powerless. I was able to be a part of her life for a short time but her struggle and her story is a real part of my life. I only pray she continues to have people in her life who are there for her when she needs.
Last week in the Catholic Church, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. When we talk about the Body of Christ, our words include each and every person. The Bible includes all people of all nations…EVERYONE and EVERYTHING God created. God didn’t create us to be divided, he created us to be one. We are the Body of Christ and we need to act like it.
