17th Sunday in Ordinary Time ( C-cycle )
July 29, 2007

“Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you…” I can’t think of any words in Scripture I’ve wrestled with more. They seem on their face to be untrue. I know from experience that all my prayers haven’t been answered. I’ve searched for things and haven’t found them. I’ve knocked and it seemed as if nobody answered or sometimes as if the door was slammed in my face.

 

This past week I think we’ve all wrestled with the silence, the seeming indifference of God as we try to deal with the horror of what happened to the Petit family in Cheshire. How they must have prayed for deliverance, but for the women in the family help came too late. A family member said that what sustained them in the aftermath of this tragedy was their faith, faith that was “stretched and strained”.

 

This is the full statement of the Petit family: We are a family of faith. No one ever wants their faith tested, particularly by events such as these. When there is no ability to control your life events and you are required to deal with such great tragedy and loss, however, your faith is all the more necessary. Although we no longer have Jennifer, Hayley, and Michaela physically present with us, and we do now and continue to experience an extraordinary sense of loss because of that, we firmly believe that their spirits and all of the goodness that defined their characters and beautiful personas will remain with us forever. We are committed to preserving those spirits and fulfilling their lives of promise, so tragically cut short. Many ask what they can do. Care about others as a regular part of your lives, not just at times of tragedy. The feelings of connectedness and the outpouring of affection for us and our family members represent the best of human emotions for which we are extremely grateful. Actively support causes that exist solely for the improvement of peoples’ lives in need. Doing these things will be our way of saying that these senseless acts of violence did not stop the wonderful, giving spirits of our beloved family members." The statement then mentions specifically scholarships to Cheshire Academy where Mrs. Petit-Hawke worked and Miss Porter’s School and Chase Collegiate School which Hayley and Michaela attended. The family concludes by saying, “We thank you for your prayers, expressions of sympathy and interest in doing something positive in response to this awful tragedy.”

 

Why does God allow things like this to happen? I wish I could give an answer. I don’t have a clue. Jesus didn’t ask why. He screamed it from the cross. Why have you forsaken me, why have you abandoned me? Our God has carried the cross of suffering and death. He feels our pain from experience. That’s not an explanation. It may be a comfort. Maybe it’s all we have. Maybe it’s all we need. I do know the alternative explanation is unacceptable---that no one is listening to our prayers, that no one cares, and therefore that we don’t count for much. The lives of this remarkable family demonstrate that that’s not true. Some years back, Dr. John Haugh and his wife Pat, members of our parish were murdered. And I said that if the men who killed them were in an accident, the Haughs would have stopped to give them healing and comfort. The Petits would have done the same. Real faith may be stretched and strained, but it never snaps. May they rest in peace.