I woke up today with a heavy ache in my chest for the precious families who are facing inexpressible loss.
In Minneapolis this week, families are living every parent’s nightmare. A gunman opened fire into Annunciation Catholic School, striking at least twenty people. Two children are already gone. Others, young and old, are fighting for their lives.
I can’t stop thinking about the parents whose arms are empty tonight. The classmates who will never see their friends again. The teachers and pastors who are trying to hold this broken community together while carrying their own grief.
There are no words that can make sense of such cruelty. There is only prayer.
Each of us has had tragedy touch our lives, and we know the hope we have in Christ Jesus is the only real remedy for broken lives and hearts.
So please, pause with me. Pray for the parents who have lost their children. Pray for the little ones lying in hospital beds. Pray for the parish that has lost its sense of safety in God’s house. Pray for the mental anguish caused to each person in the Annunciation community by this life-altering event.
And if you or someone you love has been touched personally by this tragedy, please write back so we can pray for you by name.
We cannot take away the sorrow, but we can carry it together. That is what love does. It doesn’t walk away. It doesn’t let go.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4
Let us cling to that promise today.