….what Father Kenneth Walker preached about, in a sermon captured on video that has gone viral on the Internet in the days after he was gunned down, at 28 years of age, by a burglar at Mother of Mercy Mission parish near downtown Phoenix. He talked about forgiveness and the need for people living in a sinful, broken and violent world to realize that they may not have much time remaining to get right with God.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod is all merciful, but he is also perfectly just,\u201d\u009d he said. \u201cHe will not prevent something from happening, if we bring it about by our own choosing. Nevertheless, God gives time and opportunity to repent before he lets the consequences fall upon us.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The Bible and church history are full of cases in which God warns people to flee wickedness, he said. In some cases, saints and martyrs suffered and died while God gave a wayward land more time to repent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in a similar situation today, since we are now living in a world that is increasingly rejecting Christ and casting him out of the public forum,\u201d\u009d said Walker. \u201cWe have grown far too attached to our own knowledge, our technology and our worldly pleasures \u201d\u201d such that we have forgotten God and what he has done for us.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n