I woke to the news that 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt were beheaded by ISIS on a beach in Tripoli. That ISIS would pick a beautiful place by the ocean to carry out this heinous act feels particularly galling.
God’s creation in all its beauty juxtaposed with man, made in the image of God, in all his free-willed horror.
The news did not even make it to the front page of the New York Times.
We are in a world where a terrorist organization decides who lives and who dies and it’s no longer front page news.
I have few words for this horror. I have had the privilege of living in Egypt, of going to the homes, churches, and monasteries of Coptic Christians. These are my brothers and sisters in faith. It hurts my soul.
But if I am honest, in my heart every day I make the kind of decisions that lead up to what ISIS did to these men. I daily decide who to despise and who to accept; who is worthy of my kindness and who deserves my rejection. And that’s what hurts — that as evil as ISIS is, the same spirit is in me.
We live in a world where the definition of who should be allowed to live narrows with each passing day. How can my prayers, my life, my actions reflect something completely different?
And can I pray for those who inflict such evil?
“The man who cries out against evil men but does not pray for them will never know the grace of God.” — St. Silouan the Athonite
Those are my thoughts this day.
