Hope in the Time of Corona

          Below is a list of those who lost their lives in Uvalde, 2 adults and 20 children.  Yes, I dared to include the “gunman,” who in my eyes was also just a child.  Despite that fact that most US states define “age of majority” as 18, for most of us (more so if over forty!), an eighteen-year-old is still a child.  Children killing children -that is the world we live in.  I ask myself, is there any prayer, any words, any reflection that can make any rational sense of this and bring peace to those in mourning?  Can the hearts of those who have lost a loved one (and yes, this includes the parents and grandparents of the “gunman”) find wholeness?  Can any of us find hope in time of hopelessness? 

            Perhaps the answer to this last question lies at the heart of the feast we, Christians celebrated yesterday.  Pentecost assures us that God is always Present.  In the midst of chaos, at the center of the pain caused by your Teacher and Friend being executed, at the core of the confusion or anger you feel when you realize that your expectations were violently, and abruptly snatched from you, there - not before, not afterward, but in that moment - you are not alone.  It is God’s Holy Spirit that is our Peace, understood not as a moment of quiet or lack of internal or external struggles, but the Divine manifestation of wholeness that holds us in the midst of suffering and teaches us, impels us actually, to be the same for others.

Can we hope for those who feel hopeless?  This week, as we gather as Christians, we might have to ask ourselves questions that make us uncomfortable regarding automatic weapons, Constitutional rights and responsibilities, democracy, freedoms, and what it means to be pro-life, from conception to death.  However, I know tht these concepts usually transport us into a frenzy of emotions and can lead us to ideological dead ends.  So before we engage the unavoidable conversations, let us just take a moment to sit in silence.  Let us pause and experience God's Spirit sustaining us in the here and now.  And as we attentively breathe in God's Spirit, let us pray the names of our brothers and sisters, who remain WHOLE in the heart of the Risen Christ:  Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, Jacklyn Cazares, Makenna Lee Elrod, Jose Manuel Flores Jr., Eliahna Garcia, Irma Garcia, Uziyah Garcia, Amerie Jo Garza, Xavier Lopez, Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, Tess Mata, Miranda Mathis, Eva Mireles, Alithia Ramirez, Annabelle Rodriguez, Maite Rodriguez, Alexandria "Lexi" Rubio, Layla Salazar, Jailah Nicole Silguero, Eliahana Cruz Torres, Rojelio Torres, and Salvador Ramos.

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