“In the arms of the angel ...”

Today, in Newton, Connecticut, 27 people, including 20 children, were killed when a gunman clad in black military gear opened fire inside his mother's kindergarten class at an elementary school. It is a tragedy beyond comprehension, even for a nation that allows the killing of roughly four thousand unborn children every single day. Most people would consider such a comparison to be completely arbitrary. But what happened in Connecticut today is what the culture of death looks like, if only when it stares you in the face, and you cannot look away or paint it over with euphemisms like "choice."

You are left, then, with only ONE choice, to stare back at it in horror, and ask yourself, “How long, O Lord?”

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Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance
for a break that would make it okay
there's always some reason
to feel not good enough
and it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
oh a beautiful release
memory seeps from my veins
let me be empty
oh and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight

In the arms of the angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here

So tired of the straight life
and everywhere you turn
there's vultures and thieves at your back
the storm keeps on twisting
you keep on building the lies
that you make up for all that you lack
it don't make no difference
escaping one last time
it's easier to believe
in this sweet madness oh
this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

In the arms of the angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

(H/T to Latoya Ford.)
 

“Remember, remember, the fifth of November ...”

Today is the fifth of November. Right, you knew that. But do you know why this day is remembered as “Guy Fawkes Day” in England? For that we go to (where else?) Wikipedia, from which the following is taken.

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Sir Robert Catesby. The plan was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November, as the prelude to a popular revolt in the Midlands during which James's nine-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was to be installed as the Catholic head of state. Catesby may have embarked on the scheme after hopes of securing greater religious tolerance under King James had faded ...

The character of Guy Fawkes was the inspiration for the mysterious antihero of the 2006 movie V for Vendetta, a dystopian vision of a totalitarian government in the UK, based upon the 1982-89 comic book series of the same name. The film starred Hugo Weaving as the elusive "V" and Natalie Portman as the woman whom he rescues and later befriends.

Plus, that mask is pretty awesome, especially in the climax where everybody ... nah, you gotta get the DVD.

[The above was first published on this day in 2010. Still works, though. -- DLA]
 

Nihil

It is said that when the late Heath Ledger was tapped to play the role of the Joker in the 2008 Batman film The Dark Knight, he was cautioned by the man who had done so before. Veteran actor Jack Nicholson, who himself starred as the twisted villain in the 1989 film Batman, part of an earlier incarnation of the Batman saga, gave a cryptic response when told of Ledger's death from a perscription drug overdose.

"Well," Nicholson told reporters in London early Wednesday, "I warned him."

Ledger recently told reporters he "slept an average of two hours a night" while playing "a psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy ...

"I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."

Prescription drugs didn't help ...

... which betrays not only the truly dark nature of the fictional character, but the reality of evil in the world. Opinion polls have shown that most people believe in angels, but also that most do not believe in the Devil, himself a fallen angel. Our Mother the Church warns us that Satan is a real person, if only in pure spirit, one who, in the words of Peter's epistle, “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) In depicting the character in prototypical comic book fashion, as opposed to Heath Ledger's deranged creature, Nicholson may have saved himself from being consumed by the role. Those who do not see this concern as realistic, would be even more hard pressed to explain than those who do, the recent incident in Aurora, Colorado, (not far from Columbine High School), which has come to be known as the "Movie Theater Massacre."

Does it come as any surprise to us, that one who would cold-heartedly engage in such an evil act, would depict himself as the unspeakable villain from the comic book series?

In the wake of the 9-11 tragedy nearly eleven years ago, a funeral was held in Arlington for one of the victims. The homily, given by the Reverend Father Franklyn McAfee, spoke of what the Church teaches us of the nature of evil.

I cannot explain the madness that took place on Tuesday. For what we saw with our own eyes is the face of evil. And evil cannot logically be explained because, as those of you who are steeped in the philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas know, evil -- malum -- is nihil. It is nothing.

Since God is existence itself -- God told Moses, “I am who am” -- evil would be nonbeing. Nothingness. And to confront nothingness is to come face-to-face with unspeakable horror.

We can, however, understand how people would be compelled to murder with enthusiasm so many people.

A terrorist is not born. Terrorists are made, with every conscious decision they make in life to hate, to choose death rather than life.

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine.
    Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
Et lux perpetua luceat eos.
    And let perpetual light shine upon them.

And may God have mercy on us all.

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(Finished? Click here already.)