It would be way out of line for me to even guess how God thinks. My limited intellectual skills do not come even close to the smallest thought that God has. Be that as it may, I have lately found myself wondering what God thinks about all that is going on in our world these days. Most especially what does God think about our reaction to COVID-19? What does God think about all the violence and discrimination that seems to be so rampant in our world? What does God think about the division and the seemingly constant bickering that is going on between even people in the same families? What does God think about all the fear, all the sadness, all the anxiety and depression that is such a large part of our lives these days?

This past weekend I traveled to Reading, Pennsylvania to preside at the wedding of a former UMaine student. Not only was he a former student, but Jon also played on the hockey team. Most impressive was that when he first arrived at UMaine and when his brother arrived two years later one of the first places they became familiar with was the Newman Center for Sunday night Mass. For their entire time at UMaine, Jon and Steven were regulars at the Newman Center. So much so that I not only got to know these fine young men but am pleased to call their whole extended family my friends.

Is it just me or are people angrier these days? It seems that no matter where one turns, in movies, on the news, in the stores, even at church people seem to be afflicted with a lack of patience and short fuses. It is almost as if there is an epidemic of anger that is growing with the pandemic of COVID-19.

Our minds are turned to freedom these days. We pause to contemplate the beginnings of our nation. A beginning that was wrought by a need to be free. To be free from tyranny, to be free from oppression, to be free from taxation without representation, and to be free to worship God. We need look only to the Declaration of Independence to see that the founders of this nation were seeking to establish a nation of freethinkers who create the oft mentioned “city on the hill.”