A Big Weekend...

Last night, I logged onto my Facebook and read the news that many had been hoping for for ten years. Osama Bin Laden had been killed by American Special Forces. However, behind the chants of "USA!", I noticed a particularly disturbing trend. People were not rejoicing over the fact that this man was out of power, or that Al Queda was now left leaderless. What I saw was an entire news feed full of people that were rejoicing over a death. Some of the statuses I saw were as follows:

"Enjoy Hell Bin Laden", "Ding Dong, Bin Laden's dead", "There's no better way to end the weekend than Bin Laden's death", and the list goes on and on...

People! This is not a freaking video game! A man is dead. What he did and what he is responsible for does not give anyone the right to rejoice over his death as if he was not a human being to begin with. 

The Vatican made this statement: "Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibility of everyone before God and man, and hopes and pledges that every event is not an opportunity for a further growth of hatred, but of peace." 

However, when Catholic News Blog posted the story, the first comment was this:"I rejoice that God gave our troops the ability to find and kill this devil.The king of the dogs is dead. I think we should hang his dead body on a pole at ground zero, point a webcam at him and let the buzzards pick his bones as the world watches. Maybe then the Islamic terrorist will understand we mean business"

Is this not a terrifying picture of the culture of death that we live in? Are we just like the people we fight wars against who burn images of our leaders in effigy? Do we really celebrate death as if it were a gift to take the life of a man? As Catholics we are called now more than ever to pray for our enemies. Did the many Catholics who I saw posting about Bin Laden even realize that it was Divine Mercy Sunday, or that John Paul II, a huge proponent of mercy and forgiveness, was made blessed

I think all these things happened on the same day for a reason. We are meant to show mercy to those who oppress us, and forgiveness to those who do us harm. We need to live out the words spoken so beautifully by Father Lombard in the Vatican. I say do not rejoice over the death of a human being. Do not deny his personhood or the image of God in which he was created. I urge you to say a prayer for Osama Bin Laden's soul, and also pray for a healing in the world and in our own hearts.

May the Lord, our God, bless us, our country, and our world                                                                                                                         Saint Joseph, model of manliness, pray for us

http://www.romereports.com/palio/Vatican-asks-to-not-celebrate-killing-of-Bin-Laden-fears-it-will-increase-hate-english-4045.html