Children's Laughter

(Towards deeper analysis of violence)

We miss children's laughter when violence and confusion and evacuation reign all around. That's what the song refers to in: One More Gift. "If there's one more gift I'd ask of you, Lord, it would be peace here on earth, as gentle as your children's laughter all around, all around. Your people have grown weary from living in confusion; when will we realize that neither heaven is at peace when we live not in peace."

We keep on blaming others for all these displacements, anguish and distress. Yet the main fault is within us. A Spanish proverb says: "Tu enemigo peor eres tu" (You are your own worse enemy). Jesus also wants to drive home such point when He says: "Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the plank in your own? How dare you say to your brother, 'Let me take the splinter out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother's eye" (Mt. 7:3).

We know that Jesus, as king of peace, is our example of love. He has taught us that what makes a man unclean is not what enters through the mouth, but rather what comes out of the mouth. The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart. Those evil intentions are what make a man unclean, which are murder, adultery, impurity, fornication, theft, perjury, slander" (cf. Mt. 15:15). As we see the acts of violence happening in the world of today, let's ask ourselves, Why? Why the ambition for power that kills people. It must come from the devil and his false teachings. Jesus tells us that: "The devil is a murderer and the father of lies" (cf. Jn. 8:44). Those savage acts of rape and impurity and murder also are the fruits of immodesty in pornographic media of the internet and indecent or lustful shows that incite to lewd feelings and violent acts. Immodest dress is part to blame.