Do I believe there is a connection between the loss of the practice of the Catholic Faith in France and other places makes those places more subject to these kind of attacks? Yes.
Do I believe, though, that anyone is responsible for this tragedy other than the terrorists who planned, coordinated, and/or executed these evil acts? No, absolutely not.
No one is responsible for these evil deeds other than those aforementioned individuals. However, these acts, combined with 9/11, and other incidents of terrorism we have seen, should make us all look in the mirror and say, "What is it about the world now that is setting the conditions for these kinds of things to even be possible?" I can say without any fear of being incorrect that the beauty of the Catholic Faith, and awesomeness of a life lived fully as a believing Catholic, are not seen as much today as they have been in the past, and as a result of that, Islam and other religions are filling that void, giving purpose and meaning to many in its absence.
I will state that while I absolutely do not believe that Catholics and all Christians are any better people than those who follow Islam, I will state, and this is in line with Church teaching, that Catholicism is a superior religion to Islam, and all other religions. All religions have some degree of truth in them in their teaching, but only Catholicism has the fullness of Truth, and no falsehood in its teaching. (Again, I am only talking and comparing the religions themselves, not the people who practice them. ) So, what is happening now is a superior religion being pushed aside for an inferior one, and we are seeing the fruits of that.
Therefore, if we are not living our Catholic Faith as fully as we can be, which really none of us are, then while we cannot and should not hold ourselves responsible for these evil acts, then we need to at least consider ourselves a small part of the problem why evil is spreading today, and change what we need to in us and in our lives to make us less culpable.
At Mass today, something extraordinary happened. The priest said the words of Consecration and the bread and wine that was on the altar became the Body and Blood of Christ. You may, say, extraordinary, but does not that happen every week, or even every day? Yes, and that is one of the many things that make Catholicism what it is. Every week, something supernatural happens. Every day, on the altars of Catholic churches all over the word, God becomes substantially present in a way He is not anywhere else.
The Mass is a representation of Our Lord's sacrificial offering for us on the Cross. On the Cross, He gave us His Body and Blood for our salvation, and we are now eating and drinking the fruits of that Sacrifice.
If God comes us to us this way, and we all believed that, we would any of us feel a need to kill ourselves to go to God as these terrorists did? Receiving Christ in the Eucharist; Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, makes our days bearable.
If God made the ultimate and only necessary sacrifice for our salvation, why would any of us feel a need to make a sacrifice of ourselves as these terrorists did? As today's second reading from the letter to the Hebrews said, Christ offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God; by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated. We do not need to sacrifice ourselves to achieve perfection as these terrorists believed.
If we believed as fully as we could, and more people believed the truths of the Catholic Faith, then there would be less people willing to do what we saw the other evening.
I hope and pray this commentary is taken the right way. I have respect and love all Muslims. I respect and love my Protestant brothers and sisters. I respect and love people of all faiths, and no faith.
However, the answer to this problem is not in discarding Truth, and trying just to love one another. We, rather, need to all seek and live the fullness of Truth like never before, and that fullness of Truth is found in the Catholic Church. I invite all, in the words of Our Lord, to "Come and you will see!"
(John 1:39)
In closing, there is not a lot of tradition around Saint Joseph in praying for the deceased. There is a lot of tradition around praying to him in advance for a happy death, but not around praying for those who have already died. However, I am sure Joseph, during the killing of the Holy Innocents, prayed unceasingly for those many infants who died at the hand of Herod, which makes that tragedy at least as reprehensible as this one since it involved mostly young children. Thus, one can conclude, he knew tragedy and prays for those who experience tragic deaths. We can ask him to do the same today for those who died in this tragedy, so that they can be purified of their sins, and enter into the fullness of the Father's glory.
Joseph, patron of the dying and solace of the wretched, pray for us.
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