Into this house of peace we come seeking some sense of meaning from the tragic week just past.
We cannot comprehend the horror; it is quite simply overpowering.
Our hearts go out to the families of those who have died;
Our hands reach out to help where and when we can;
Our minds try to wrap themselves around the gravity of it all;
Our spirits are stung by the enormity of what has happened;
Our souls are wounded by the inhumanity we have seen.
We seek some solace in the wreckage of human lives,
Some way to feel the hurt that courses through our nation.
Some reason why bad things happen to good people.
We know others around the globe have suffered calamity,
But this is our calamity - it is happening to those we know and love.
It is no abstraction - it is real - and it is painful.
We walk about as if in a fog - as if this week were not real.
We talk about the suffering though we are miles from it.
We reach down into our soul of souls to find hope.
Engulfed in the depth and darkness of despair,
We seek to strike a match
To light a candle
To show an affirming flame,
Though it be but a pin-point in the night.
May we be guided by its light today and evermore.
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