The Good Guys Always Win

Gracie was 4. We snuggled in to watch Little Mermaid. I used to babysit for cousins who at the same age loved this movie, no doubt so will my daughter. It didn't take long for Ursula the Sea Witch to make an appearance. Gracie was terrified. She didn't like it and begged me to turn it off.  So I did.

This was the beginning of my movie watching mantra. Through our watching of the Marvel Universe movies, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings - Gracie would get anxious and scared but not want to turn it off. My mantra, "Don't worry, the good guys always win." Sure enough, to her relief, they always did. Phew!

I was talking about this with another parent a few years back. We were talking about movies our children find scary and I explained my mantra. This parent challenged me, "you probably shouldn't tell her 'the Good guys always win' because it is not true of real life."

I was perplexed. "But they do!" I retorted. And then as a knee-jerk reaction, I blurted out, "They get to go to heaven."

***

This summer has just been one horrible story of bombing, shooting, hate speech after another. Our world is crying out in gut-wrenching pain and people are cowering in front of their screens.

The day after the Philando Castile's shooting and the Dallas police shooting I was grocery shopping. I was watching everyone going about their business; I was searching their faces for a trace of mourning. How could we all be going about our days so normally without bitter anguish on our faces?

In these days I have found myself repeating my mantra over and over again, "Don't worry, Venus. The good guys always win." When I catch myself in the mantra, I scold me, "Do not let this make you passive to the violence and brokenness."

***

I hear the voice of Pope Francis, crying out in our twenty-first century wilderness, "Mercy!"

I struggle with this. What does this mean for me? for black communities? for muslim communities? for cities? for countries? for victims? for suspects? Mercy. 

The good guys always win. 

Jesus accomplished so much in his short life. We need to take comfort in this, more now than ever. It is because of him that the good guys always win. He left us with a distinct commissioning, "Take this and eat it. This is my body." Because when we eat it, he is in us, alive! We are given the heart of Christ. We must start to use the heart of Christ that has been given to us - The Heart of Mercy. 

This is our prayer - that the transformative power of the Eucharist awaken in us the Heart of Jesus - the Heart of Mercy. It is then that we will be able to navigate this hurting and broken world with the touch of grace. Therein lies hope.