Today I attended a Rosary Rally, held in a public square on a street corner in my home town. About 25 people met at noon to pray for the "Expiation of Public and National Sins".
We received a very informative handout which begins, "As a member of society and a citizen of your country, you must unite with the rest in making the atonement and reparation which Devine Justice requires for the public and national sins committed in the community in which you live." This makes sense to me and fits my concept of sin; that we are all in this world together and we are all responsible for each other. Sin, whether it's mine or someone else's, affects all of us. The handout goes on to explain, "By public and national sins we understand certain sins of a graver nature which are committed on so large a scale and by so many persons in a community, be it a city, or a province, or an entire nation, that they are attributed to the community as a body and not merely to this or that individual." The handout goes on to provide a very long list of what might qualify as public and national sins.
Here is where, I think, their message swerves off track. The third paragraph begins with, "God is exceedingly patient and long-suffering, and does not willingly inflict general chastisements, however richly they may be deserved by a community". This is followed by examples in which God inflicts punishment because of disobedience. This group, The Public Square Rosary Crusade, states in paragraph four that, "God acts in this way still". Evidently, they believe that after a suitable waiting period, God will cause some "visitation which will fall heavily on the guilty community as a just punishment of its long, continued transgressions ..." such as "destructive floods or storms, epidemics and pestilences ...”.
This doesn't match my concept of God, because I do not believe that God is responsible for the pain in the world. I believe that accidents happen, floods happen, earth quakes happen, epidemics happen, etc. but I don't believe that God causes these things in order to punish individuals, groups, or nations. Nevertheless, even though I don't agree with everything this group proclaims, nor everything on their list of public and national sins, the large banner message was positive, those who passed by didn't seem offended, and it was a positive experience for me. I think that next year I would be willing to attend another Rosary Rally, held in a public square on a street corner in my home town.
We received a very informative handout which begins, "As a member of society and a citizen of your country, you must unite with the rest in making the atonement and reparation which Devine Justice requires for the public and national sins committed in the community in which you live." This makes sense to me and fits my concept of sin; that we are all in this world together and we are all responsible for each other. Sin, whether it's mine or someone else's, affects all of us. The handout goes on to explain, "By public and national sins we understand certain sins of a graver nature which are committed on so large a scale and by so many persons in a community, be it a city, or a province, or an entire nation, that they are attributed to the community as a body and not merely to this or that individual." The handout goes on to provide a very long list of what might qualify as public and national sins.
Here is where, I think, their message swerves off track. The third paragraph begins with, "God is exceedingly patient and long-suffering, and does not willingly inflict general chastisements, however richly they may be deserved by a community". This is followed by examples in which God inflicts punishment because of disobedience. This group, The Public Square Rosary Crusade, states in paragraph four that, "God acts in this way still". Evidently, they believe that after a suitable waiting period, God will cause some "visitation which will fall heavily on the guilty community as a just punishment of its long, continued transgressions ..." such as "destructive floods or storms, epidemics and pestilences ...”.
This doesn't match my concept of God, because I do not believe that God is responsible for the pain in the world. I believe that accidents happen, floods happen, earth quakes happen, epidemics happen, etc. but I don't believe that God causes these things in order to punish individuals, groups, or nations. Nevertheless, even though I don't agree with everything this group proclaims, nor everything on their list of public and national sins, the large banner message was positive, those who passed by didn't seem offended, and it was a positive experience for me. I think that next year I would be willing to attend another Rosary Rally, held in a public square on a street corner in my home town.
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