When the sense of God is lost, there is also a tendency to lose the sense of man, of his dignity and his life —John Paul II, The Gospel of Life (par. 21)

Last weekend turned out to be yet another violent one in the nation: seven people were murdered, one of them decapitated. By Monday morning 72 people were killed in 72 days. It is almost as if the country now must live with the horrible prescription of one murder a day.

Referring to the situation in Trinidad and Tobago but also globally, Archbishop Edward Gilbert was moved to say during his New Year homily at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception: “This is the hand of Satan.”

Many will claim these killings no longer shock them, and any group discussing crime or the murder rate will put forward a variety of reasons for the state of affairs. Most will agree it is a complex issue. Nevertheless, this level of violence does prompt two questions: what rage is it that lures people into committing these kinds of crimes and what do those who commit them think of God?

The first cannot be considered without contending with the second. Whatever else might be said in answer, it must be true that too many in our society do not know, or have lost the sense of, the love of God.

The widespread violence in our land speaks of the distancing of the human person from God. St John is explicit: “ Anyone who says ‘I love God' and hates his brother, is a liar, since no one who fails to love the brother whom he can see can love God whom he has not seen ” (1 John 4: 20 ).

Pope Benedict XVI, commenting on this text in his encyclical, “God is Love”, “Deus Caritas Est” , speaks of the “unbreakable bond between love of God and love of neighbour,” which makes loving my neighbour a “path that leads to the encounter with God.” But also, a real love of neighbour, he states, “can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God.”

Finding adequate answers

The Church celebrates tomorrow the Solemnity of St Joseph, transferred from the Sunday to Monday since it falls on a Sunday of Lent. In a more religious time, this feast would have been associated with a break in Lenten observances, a custom recognised by Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Today, when many do not seem to care whether Sunday falls on a Monday the impact of this holy day has been all but lost. It is a pity: one more sign of the intrusion of secularism. But now there is an opportunity to look at this feast and the figure of St Joseph with fresh eyes.

Scripture tells us Joseph was “a just man” (Matthew 1:19 ). What makes him just or righteous is that he does the will of God. He listens to the voice of God and obeys.

In the present social climate, this feast of St Joseph poses questions for the Church as it does for the State: What can be done to allow all of God's people to encounter the One True Living God and what obstacles might there be to this encounter—in our families, in schools, communities, workplaces?

The fulfilment of God's will among us, and bringing about healing and peace in our land, depend on finding adequate answers to these questions.