August 12, 2020
GENOCIDE OR MASS MURDERS:
ONE OF MY 5 QUESTIONS FOR
GOD
The title of my thoughts for this Wednesday in the 19th
Week in Ordinary Time is: “Genocide Or Mass Murders: One of My 5 Questions for
God.”
Every once and a while I hear someone say, “This is one of my
questions I have for God after I die.”
I have that thought at times. How about you. I also have the question: “Does everyone have a
list of questions they want to ask God when they die?”
TODAY’S FIRST READING
Today’s first reading – Ezechiel 9: 1 to 7 – then 10: 18-22 - has the story of people being marked with an
X. That’s the last letter in the Hebrew alphabeth – called a Tau or Thau.
Here in Ezechiel those who are to be saved are to be marked on
the forehead with an X.
The rest are to be slaughtered. Well, those are the ones I'm thinking and asking about this morning.
GENOCIDE
As soon as I hear about these Biblical wipeouts I find myself thinking about all the people who have
been slaughtered down through the centuries.
My guess is that the numbers slaughtered in the Bible are nothing in
comparison to the killings in the last century.
In the two big wars – World War I and II - millions died.
Last night I decided to finally jot down my list of genocides in
the 20th century. I don’t
know how one brings a list to the other side of their own death. And how to
make up my list is tricky. I find the numbers numbered rather differently.
What I want to talk to God about is Mao Zedong. From 1949 to 1976,
he is responsible for the deaths of 40 to 80 million people.
Stalin has high numbers as well: 20 million plus.
Hitler had 6 million Jews killed – plus a lot more people
killed.
I saw the movie – The Killing Fields [1984]. It talked
about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge – who killed some 1.5 million people between
1975-1979 in Cambodia.
In 1994 – in Rwanda some 800,000 people were
slaughtered in 100 days. Hutus killed the minority Tutsi people and others. I read Immaculee Ilibagiza’s book, Left to
Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwanda Holocaust. It made me wonder about whether the degree to
which Christianity and Catholicism had an impact on stopping such murder
sprees.
God what about all this? I’m serious
about this. I’ve heard people say: “Well, what about all the abortions?”
Yes – down through the ages – millions and
millions and millions and millions and millions of babies have been
aborted. And millions and millions and
millions of babies have died still born.
I want to ask God about them too. To me
they are also part of my belief that there is an afterlife – and that means a
lot of healing needs to take place – but in this homily I’m choosing to
ask about the lives of those folks who
have been murdered, killed, atrocitified – cut short after living some life?
I’m 80 and have been blessed with lots
of life – and have been in sweet situations. What
about those killed in genocides?
Down in Guatemala 45,000 to 60,000 were killed in the so called
silent holocaust – 1980-85. Then there
other numbers – like 166,000 Mayans killed. I read that that tribal people were
described as subhumans. Did that make it easier to kill them?
In Kurdistan - between 1986-1989 - some 50,000 to 182,000 Kurds were killed plus Assyians.
That’s some of the history of the world, God. What about all
these people? Will their voices ever be heard – like in eternity?
So once more, people make a big scream about aborted babies in
the millions and millions and millions – but I don't hear them asking, "What about the voice and vote of all these wiped out - having lived some of their existence – and then their story was cut short - because of race and religion and look - or what have you?"
God what about them?
LAST NIGHT IN LOOKING ALL THIS UP
Last night in looking this up, I read about something I never
heard of before.
Mao Zedong in China decided to kill all the sparrows. It’s
estimated that 800,000 sparrows were killed.
People would bang pots and pans and tire the birds out and then kill
them on the ground. He held that they were eating all the grain and people were starving. Yes, the birds ate grain – yes people were starving. What Mao Zedong learned was that the sparrows also ate
bugs – like locusts. No sparrows, the locusts multiplied and killed a lot more of the wheat crop. As a result some 16
million people starved to death.
I know Jesus told us to look at the birds of the air. I know Jesus said in Luke 12: 22: “Think of
the ravens. They do not sow or
reap; they have no storehouses and no barns; yet God feeds them. And how much more are you worth than the birds.”
CONCLUSION
So God when I die I want to ask you about all these birds – but most
especially I want to ask you about all these people who were killed - too, too soon. You want
us to be aware of the birds and the people, why didn’t you do something about
them?
I know you had a horrible death on the cross – so too millions
and millions and millions and millions of people.
God, one of my 5 questions is about genocide. Prepare your homework, I'm coming one of these days. And don't hand me a copy of the book of Job. Read it. I've also read, When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Kushner. I also know a bit about Free Will and Prayer. So that's one of my 5 questions. Be prepared.
