When I was out visiting in Denver in 1987, where I stayed was Aurora, Colorado. Yes the one that was in the news in July 2012 when some guy with guns ablazin' went into a movie theater and shot arbitrarily into the crowd killing 12 and injuring 58 others.
I later moved to Aurora Colorado, I'll get to that in a later post. I know where Littleton Colorado is too. The scene of the Columbine school shooting in April 1999. Lisa's Dad would eventually move back to the Denver area and reside in Littleton.
These days it seems there is tragedy and violence in places I was familiar with but from another time and definitely with other feelings about them. I have mixed emotions about the part of my life that involved Denver and Aurora. But none of that compares to the anguish people have lived through in those very same towns - since I have been back in my hometown these past 24 years - with violent acts it seems occurring every year or so. I keep thinking when will this stuff end?
This week we had another terrible tragedy, this time at the Boston Marathon. I have never been to Boston but I know friends and family that either reside near there or went to Boston University some time ago. I cannot imagine what they are feeling this week as the reports of 2 suspected bombers were on the loose in their area. 3 were killed and many suffered horrible loss of limbs and injuries no one wants to view on TV. It happened at a marathon of all things. The first thing I said at work was, "You cannot do anything anymore, even run a race, without someone messing it up". I know that doesn't fully state the anxiety I felt....I really added to that some colorful language I wish not to reiterate here.
I wanted to post my favorite prayer here, as I try to gather up my thoughts for the next week of posts about a time that was full of all kinds of things, good and bad. I want to leave a little bit of hope for anyone that knows someone that was killed in any act of violence, here or abroad, in their hometown or while visiting elsewhere. It is like negative energy is running amok and I need to quell that negativity growing inside myself. For today, I want to find a glimmer of peace, of love, of shelter from the storms around us, literally and figuratively.
The Peace Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
- O Divine Master,
- grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
- to be understood, as to understand;
- to be loved, as to love.
- For it is in giving that we receive.
- It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
- and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
- Amen.
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