Who is your god, Vladimir Putin? Is it power? Is it ego? Is it an ideology? What animates you? Why have you succumbed to man’s ugliest ways? Why are you drawn to evil? Were you bullied as a child? Did your father mistreat you? Why do you have such little regard for your fellow man?
The pictures coming out of Ukraine are heartbreaking. Families fleeing their homes and being separated from one another. Children running with their stuffed animals trying to reach safety while bombs explode in the distance. Why? Why is our world so rampant with sin? This is what happens in a world without God. When man turns away from the true God, he becomes his own god, and that always leads to self-destruction. Sadly, many innocent God-fearing people become collateral damage.
An article by Amelia Monroe Carlson posted on catholic365.com calls this a religious war. She believes Putin, as a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, sees himself in Russia as a defender and protector of Christianity and Christians worldwide. He has his eyes set on Kyiv because that is where the Russian religion traces its beginning. For Putin, it is about unifying the Russian Orthodox Church all under Moscow, therefore under the control of the Russian government leader. That may be true, but I cannot believe religion is his primary motivation.
Aggressors like Putin need to be stopped. Like a spoiled child, the behavior will continue to get worse if not dealt with immediately. Sanctions seem to be minimally effective. Nobody wants to go to war, but sometimes there is no alternative. Ideally, some sensible minds in Putin’s inner circle will put a stop to this from within. Of course, we cannot assume Putin alone is behind these attacks, but the Russian people are in the best position to bring about peace.
Does prayer help in a situation like this? I really don’t know. Certainly, God could change Putin’s heart or strike him down. He did it to many sinners in the Old Testament. I just don’t see God interfering with man’s daily choices, good or bad. Free will is a funny thing. We have it, but we pray for the Holy Spirit to direct it. I don’t want to find myself thinking if I pray enough rosaries or do enough penance, God will keep a tally to a point where He will alter an outcome.
Does thinking this way indicate a lack of faith on my part? I think I am just expressing frustration in the world in which I live and despairing that I don’t know how to make it better. In the meantime, I will keep praying and hoping for a miracle.
I recently saw a picture of the way earth appears as a barely visible pale blue dot from the Voyager spacecraft, some 12 billion miles away. How insane that we human beings, so miniscule in this universe, are unable to appreciate the wonder of our own existence and instead, find it necessary to fight among ourselves to the point of destruction.
