It seems the whole world has heard of George Floyd, who was recently murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis.  He was martyred to the ills of a fallen civilization.  It was mystifying to hear him call out to his mother, who was already several years dead, in his last conscious moments.  With a spiritual perspective, it makes me wonder, if in those last moments, his mother did come to him, such that she who led him into this world, met him to lead him out of it.  Based upon numerous near-death experiences, the best pastoral theology, tells us that at the moment of death, our Lord lets us see our whole life roll before us, like in a fast-forward video clip, and while our soul is still feebly attached to our body, we are given one last moment to choose – between the created goods we have experienced all of our human existence, especially our own will, or the Uncreated Good and Will that made us and made us for Itself.  If George did really see his mother as he transitioned out of this world, sound piety proposes that he would have seen her in her reflection of our Blessed Mother, of which all mothers are – or even better, he might have seen our Blessed Mother herself, and he acknowledged her as Mother.  Would that when we die, our Mother Mary will be there to escort us beyond the veil.

Humanly speaking, it is impossible that George could have willed his unavoidable and unforeseen martyrdom to evil.  But Jesus came to teach us about redemptive suffering.  If George was witnessing his whole life pass before him, it is spiritually possible that it could have been revealed to him that if he willed and accepted his death, in a redemptive and mystical way, good would come from his death.  And if he chose to will and accept it in his last moment, which is what Jesus did, he would carry out an act of heroic courage which would have eternal consequences.

George had no say in the circumstances of his suffering, just as we, often, have no say in the sufferings that fall upon us.  In view of all this, I ask us all to consider the unavoidable current, past and future sufferings that befall us and will to accept them in a redemptive way. 

As a country, we are experiencing a “moment”.  I am embarrassed to call myself an American.  Activists are moving about, sharpening their pencils, drawing lines and pointing fingers.  Without faith, each activist thinks they know what is wrong in the world and they are the only one who can correct it – once they take control and are in charge.  There is no doubt in my mind that some of the activism is motivated by people who are frightened of the Coronavirus and are frustrated by being pent up in sheltering, denied their usual pleasures and complacence, kicking at the goads as St Paul speaks about.  George’s death has set a whole plethora of “trains in motion”.  It is hard to discern what good or evil our Lord will allow to come from his death.   George Floyd was no saint, but neither are any of us.  Jesus came to call sinners and use us for His purposes.  As people of faith, we realize that in a fallen world, we are part of the problem, but the solution is not to jump in and try to take over, but to go inside ourselves, repent and correct ourselves before we go out and try to give example to the rest of the world.  We know from the teachings of our Lord and Savior, and the example of his life, that we can, and some of us will, be martyrs to the fallen world, just as George Floyd was.  It is only with that redemptive suffering that we will change the world.  Our Lord told us not to be afraid, but to have courage, for He has overcome the world.

Dennis