Grieving for the world can be healed

Alexis Deacon

The first anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City where 168 people were killed was approaching. Practically every newspaper and television news show had extensive coverage of this tragedy. My deep desire was to pray with these families. I wanted them to feel the love that not only comforts but also helps heal the grief. Yet I couldn't seem to overcome feelings of sadness.

I knew from experience that pity doesn't contribute to healing. Mary Baker Eddy says in Miscellaneous Writings: "God's ways are not ours. His pity is expressed in modes above the human. His chastisements are the manifestations of Love. The sympathy of His eternal Mind is fully expressed in divine Science, which blots out all our iniquities and heals all our diseases. Human pity often brings pain" (p. 102). Christ Jesus lived a life full of compassion for those who came to him for healing. This wasn't pity; it was spiritual love, which destroys sickness, sin, and death. Jesus' love for others lifted them out of sickness, fear, and trouble.

Then I prayed, "Father, what is it that I need to see?" The thought came to me: "You don't need to read more about the memorial services. You need to listen to God." So I did that, to hear what He was saying. Soon I could see why sorrow seemed hard to overcome. What I found so deeply disturbing about the bombing was the impression it left that one moment you could be happily going about your day's activities and the next moment you or your loved ones could be gone—that anyone can be a victim of accidents, disease, tragedy, and that there is no recourse, no choice.

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