Where Are We As Children Are Gunned Down in Church?

Our hearts are with our Catholic brothers and sisters in Minneapolis, who are mourning the deaths of two children and the wounding of 17 others, including three adults, after gunfire shattered the opening Mass of the school year at Annunciation Catholic Church.  

Jesus reserved special condemnation for anyone who would place a stumbling block in front of a child who believed in him. These young souls were literally coming to be in Jesus’ presence during the Mass, and the loss of innocent young lives leaves us speechless and angry. 

Where was God in the midst of this tragedy in a sacred space? God was comforting the wounded. God was with the brave teachers, protecting their young students hiding under the pews. God was with the first responders who ran into bloodshed. And yes, God was there to embrace these innocent victims as they traveled from this life into the next.  

The question for us is: Where are we?

Where do we stand? Where are we, when our lawmakers fail to take action to pass sensible measures to protect the most vulnerable? Where are we, when having witnessed so much violence, we simply assume that this is the way things must be? 

May we be found on the side of the innocent. May we be found in common cause against this kind of senseless death. And may these young lives be found in the land of everlasting light, where death will be no more, where crying and pain will be no more, and where God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.