Spiritual Reflection

Incomprehensible Grief:

None one amongst us has not been emotionally crushed by the shootings on Tuesday at the elementary school in Texas. Sadness and anger are among the wide range of human emotions which have flooded our minds and raced full-speed into our hearts. All the recent shootings and acts of gun violence, resulting in the loss of innocent life, has been all too familiar across our country. Our feelings and emotions are only compounded, as one mass of lost human life is replaced by another senseless killing. Movie theaters, a grocery store, schools, and houses of worship on Sunday mornings, have been the most recent targets of hatred.

These shocking acts of violence reverberate against the core of Orthodox Christian teachings that affirms that man is created from dust, but in God’s image, and thus we are called into communion with him. We stand in solidarity and prayer for those who lost their lives, and for their grieving families, loved ones, friends, and communities who mourn their loss. We also stand alongside the twenty young children & their parents, and the teachers and educators from our own Holy Trinity church, who once again must live with concern for their children’s safety and students.

We pray that God will protect you and keep you from evil and all harm. Let us lift up our hearts to the Holy One so that our schools, churches, and communities can be made safe. May our personal and corporal prayers, along with our actions, bring about the conversion of hearts, starting with our own, as well as justice, healing and peace for our nation.

– fmv