VOA Vegas vigil By (Photo: C. Mendoza / VOA) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Lord,
We’ve seen so much mass carnage
shootings by men unknown
directed at victims unknown
Where were You?
Did You withdraw Your protection
allowing guns to discharge slugs of lead
or were You there
with each person as they were pierced.
Where were You?
Were You with those who sacrificed themselves
shielding others while receiving bullets, or
carrying out the wounded and the dead?
Were You with the gunman
watching as he pulled the trigger?
Where were You?
Did You foresee these tragedies
the calculated decisions intending destruction?
Did You witness the critical junctures from the past
prompting their descents into depravity?
Did we, Your children, notice these men
in their hardened state?
Did anyone extend humanity to them
or did our inaction and perhaps disdain
foster their brutal imaginations?
Lord,
Compel us to notice people as you do
pressing ourselves outward
to love the troubled, the grieving and the unlovable
to bring peace to those at war with society and themselves
to share hope to those who embrace nothingness
to allow Jesus to be present through our presence.
Go with us to the least of these our brothers and sister
so we don’t have to ask, “Where were You?”
EM
_________________________
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath,
for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
prayer & verse 
Thanks for this, Eric. These are the questions everyone from both sides of the “faith fence” are asking. A reporter asked a neighbor of the gunman what they could add about his character or personality. The answer was telling. “We had nothing to do with him and never spoke to him “. Maybe if someone had noticed, had listened, had loved, the ending may have been different.
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