Dear friends,
In the wake of this tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk and last week's shooting in Minneapolis at the Annunciation Catholic School, it is natural to search for answers and accountability. Yet as we watch politicians and others rush to blame one another, to claim moral superiority, or to assign guilt to certain groups, we fall into a familiar trap described by Fr. Meletios Webber: the mind's compulsive need to be right. (I've included an excerpt from his book Bread & Water, Wine & Oil at the bottom of this page.)
Fr. Meletios reminds us that the mind is rarely satisfied without an enemy. It defines itself against what it perceives as wrong, as dangerous, or as opposing.
In politics, and during a tragedy, this tendency is amplified. Every statement, every tweet, every news feed becomes an arena to assert rightness, to identify fault, to position oneself as morally or intellectually superior. And in the chaos of tragedy, this need can feel urgent: someone must be blamed, someone must pay.
Yet the heart operates differently. The heart, as Fr. Meletios explains, is quiet, patient, and accepting. It does not seek to dominate, to label, or to justify itself. It does not look for an enemy because it does not require validation through opposition. The heart lives in the present reality and seeks goodness over rightness.
St. Porphyrios adds from his book Wounded by Love:
How can Christ come and where can He find a place to remain within us if every space within us is occupied? But as soon as we enter into the spiritual life, as soon as we enter into Christ, everything changes. If you are a thief, you stop stealing; if you are a murderer, you stop murdering; if you are resentful, you cease to think with malice… Everything ceases. Sin ceases and Christ lives in you. It is what Saint Paul said: It is no longer I who live; Christ lives in me.
In other words, a heart filled with genuine love for others, even for those who disagree with us, is incapable of the ego-driven need to attack, blame, or sow division! Love disarms the compulsion to always be right. Love softens the impulse to find an enemy and replaces it with the desire to heal, to comfort, and to act justly. You see, love liberates!
A beautiful story that speaks to that liberation comes from Mother Silouana, who said:
Once a Secret Police officer asked me why I was going to church since I am so educated and don't have health problems. He asked, "Why do you go there with all the old grannies? I don't understand, you must have a reason." And I replied, "Yes, you are right, I do have a reason." And he said, "I knew it, are you going to tell me?!" And I replied: "I go to church so I can receive the power to love you! Because otherwise, I am not able to love you since you are ugly, bad, and an officer of the Secret Police. It is impossible to love you. So I go to church because that is where I receive the power which allows me to love you!"
In the wake of violence, our first impulse may be to categorize, to point fingers, to judge, criticize, and insist on who is "right" and who is "wrong." But pursuing the righteousness Jesus calls us to requires something far deeper: it asks us to prioritize justice, compassion, love, and care for the vulnerable over proving a point or winning a debate. True righteousness is humble, quiet, and restorative. It seeks healing over scoring points.
As Fr. Meletios observes, wars, oppression, and personal vendettas often arise not from a desire to do good but from the compulsive need to be right. In politics and in life today, the temptation is the same: to weaponize truth in service of ego, to define enemies, and to conflate righteousness with victory. But if we embrace love, as St. Porphyrios and Mother Silouana teach, the space for negativity, blame, and division disappears.
If we hope to respond wisely to tragedies like this, our first task is not to rush to condemnation, but to cultivate the heart: to mourn, to pray, to act justly, and to pursue peace. In doing so, we resist that compulsive urge to find enemies. Instead, let's commit to the work of mercy, truth, and healing. Only then can we honor both the victim and the humanity of those caught in the web of conflict. Only then will they see us following Jesus—being bold vessels of love!
Blessings to all!
Fr. Tom
Excerpt From Fr. Meletios Webber's Bread & Water, Wine & Oil
The heart is quiet rather than noisy, intuitive rather than deductive, lives entirely in the present, and is, at every moment, accepting of the reality God allows in that moment. Moreover, the heart does not seek to distance or dominate anything or anyone by labeling…. It knows no fear, experiences no desire, and never finds the need to defend or justify itself. Unlike the mind, the heart never seeks to impose itself. It is patient and undemanding.
In order to be right about anything, the mind has the need to find someone or something that is wrong. In a sense, the mind is always looking for an enemy (the person who is "wrong"), since without an enemy, the mind is not quite sure of its own identity. When it has an enemy, it is able to be more confident about itself. Since the mind also continually seeks for certainty, which is a by-product of the desire to be right, the process of finding and defining enemies is an ongoing struggle for survival. Declaring enemies is, for the mind, not an unfortunate character flaw, but an essential and necessary task.
Unfortunately, being right is not what people really need, even though a great deal of their lives may be taken up in its pursuit. Defense of the ego is almost always a matter of trying to be right. Interestingly enough, Jesus never once suggested to His disciples that they be right. What He did demand is that they be righteous. In listening to His words we find that we spend almost all our energy in the wrong direction, since we generally pursue being right with every ounce of our being, but leave being good to the weak and the naive.
People fight wars, commit genocide, and deprive others of basic human civil liberties, all in the name of being right. There is little doubt that if a further nuclear war ever takes place, it will be because the person pushing the button believes himself to be right. About something.
Religion, at the level of the mind, can be a terrible thing, causing wanton destruction to individuals, families, and even entire nations, all in the cause of being right. Almost every religious system can, and in most cases, has operated solely at this level at some point in its history. This is the level of religious awareness that can cause the servants of the King of Peace to wage war on those who think thoughts different from their own; it bestows on those who have been commanded to forgive their enemies the right to annihilate their foes.
Archimandrite Meletios Webber
Bread & Water, Wine & Oil: An Orthodox Christian Experience of God
