Christians are called to lighten the load of wrath and pain, of sorrow and sin, of evil for which there must be penance. In this month of Our Lady of Sorrows and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, let us take up our cross. Let us pray for, and do penance for the sins of, our neighbors, of these political assassins, of their victims, of all our neighbors, of every friend and foe we have, for all have sinned, and all have fallen short of the glory of God.
By Chris Sparks
This has been a shocking year for political assassinations.
Earlier in the year, on June 14, 2025, a number of Minnesota state politicians were attacked, and the former Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, State Representative Melissa Hortman, and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed. It was an astoundingly savage, methodical, and extensive attack on politicians with whom the assassin disagreed.
And yesterday, for reasons still unknown as of this writing, Charlie Kirk, a husband, father of two, an Evangelical brother in Christ, and co-founder of the political organization Turning Point USA, was shot and killed during an open mic debate at a university in Utah.
Love your enemies?
It’s been a bad year for this and so much else in our politics, and so much in the world, with war, famine, disease, and disaster multiplying across the world, and yet on the day I’m writing this, the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, the Gospel reading at Mass is as follows:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“To you who hear I say, love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,
pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
“If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.
“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you” (Lk 6:27-38).
Impossible?
As I listened to that Gospel be read aloud today by Fr. Tyler at Mass, I was challenged, convicted, and in awe of Divine Providence. I was challenged, because that’s the part of the Gospel that seems most supernatural, most impossible, even more impossible than the miracles of Jesus. How? And how could I say that to anyone who has suffered? What could possibly make that proclamation credible coming from me?
Yet Jesus, the supreme victim of violence, of persecution, said it. He is the supreme victim because He is God Incarnate. He could have ended the world before anyone laid a finger on Him, and yet He did not. He could have turned all aside. He could have refused the self-sacrifice asked of Him, and yet He did not.
I was convicted, because the Gospel is true. The way forward to any sort of life and love is one of forgiveness. If we received strict justice from God, we would not be here. Adam and Eve had merited death with their sin, since they had infused knowledge and all the gifts needed from God to know better, to do better than to fall. And yet God offered them a path of penance and redemption. We have earned the Flood so many times across human history, and yet God unleashed the Flood once, and made a covenant to never do so again.
Partial punishments
One of the insights of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) that I most value was that all the punishments laid out in prophecy in Scripture are partial. There is always a remnant saved, and a portion destroyed. At no point are we told all shall be destroyed. We are told that all shall be transformed. God shall be all in all, and all then shall face judgment — but it is judgment after a long, long time of mercy.
I was convicted because anyone who has wept at the beauty of the sanctity of the bishop at the beginning and of Jean Valjean at the end of Les Miserables knows that mercy is convicting, and self-evidently the path forward even in this wicked world of ours. Simple vengeance — well, anyone who has read Greek tragedies or watched them on stage, such as the modern musical Sweeney Todd, knows where that leads.
And I was in awe of Divine Providence because, as Fr. Chris has often remarked, the readings of the day are often perfectly suited to the events of the day. We are challenged to be men and women of mercy even in the face of evil. Indeed, especially in the face of evil.
Blessed George Matulaitis, Renovator of the Marian Congregation, had for his motto “Overcome evil with good.” That of course includes pursuing a just society, and the tranquility of order, which is another name for true peace. That means that our law enforcement need to do their work and catch the assassin. That doesn’t mean we simply throw our hands up at crime and refuse to ever do the hard work of just and fair policing.
Our Church’s social teaching insists, in fact, on justice for all, especially those least able to protect themselves. The Church continues the beautiful tradition of the Blue Mass for law enforcement and emergency responders in spite of the fashionable and short-sighted hatred of cops from so many in our society today. Speaking as the son of a law enforcement officer and veteran, we do indeed owe law enforcement and our military a great deal of gratitude for their service.
Resist vengeance
But it does mean we refuse to be vengeful. It means we insist in our hearts on love of neighbor, even of those neighbors whom we must acknowledge are our opponents in politics, or of those neighbors who commit crimes. It means we must recognize that Jesus has made all of us brethren again, after the sin of Adam fractured the family of Adam. Cain made it worse, and Babel made it worse still. Indeed, every generation has either added sin or sanctity, either helped burden us all further or lighten the load.
Christians are called to lighten the load of wrath and pain, of sorrow and sin, of evil for which there must be penance. In this month of Our Lady of Sorrows and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, let us take up our cross. Let us pray for, and do penance for the sins of, our neighbors, of these political assassins, of their victims, of all our neighbors, of every friend and foe we have, for all have sinned, and all have fallen short of the glory of God (see Rom 3:23).
Our Lord, Christ Crucified, and Our Lady, she of the Seven Sorrows, need to be our model, this month and always.
Heaven help us.
Photo by Zhivko Minkov on Unsplash.
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