The Pscho-Logic of the Mass Murderer: The Rage of the Fatherless

It is reported (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markmeckler/2018/02/27-deadliest-mass-shooters-26-one-thing-common/) that of the last 27 mass murderers, 26 were fatherless. This stark, tragic fact unveils the inner logic of mass murder of the innocent, the small, the powerless: fatherlessness! It is Herod and the Holy Innocents Redux! Consider the destined life itinerary of each male: first to be a son; then a brother/friend; then a bridegroom; and finally a father, in the broad sense that includes but exceeds the biological into the psychological, intellectual, social, moral, and spiritual. But the foundation is to be a son: of a specific father and mother, of a clan and tribe and nation, of a Church, and of God the Father Himself. If a male has not been a son, has not been loved by a father (or father figure(s)) and thus grown in filial trust and loyalty, he cannot become a father. He cannot give what he hasn't received. The unfathered cannot father! And so there are only two alternate paths: the young man becomes weak, shrivilled, indecisive and impotent. Or he rages...and destroys. The logic is clear: If I cannot give life, I can destroy it! If I cannot echo the generosity of the Father, I can mimic the Father of Death and Lies! Consider the three-year old boy who lacks the skills of his five-year old brother in building a lego set: frustrated and angry, he at least enjoys the thrill of destroying the thing. Hopefully and slowly, he develops and attains those creative skills and prefers them to the destructive inclinations. Consider teenage vandalism: I vividly recall as a seventeen-year-old walking with my best friend from a basketball game on garbage night as he methodically kicked over every garbage can along about a three block stretch. What was that about? He probably didn't himself know but clearly it was an inchoate rage...at something! From the viewpoint of our faith, those who die in these massacres are innocent and mysteriously identified with those first martyrs, slain by Herod in Bethelehem, and closely identified with Christ. But the aching tragedy of our time is the scourge of the fatherless: boys and girls both deprived of the love of a Father!