“Weep not for me; but weep for yourselves and for your children” (Luke 23:28). Those words have been haunting me for the past 24 hours. I hear them in the silence. I see them being said when I close my eyes. To whom were these words directed? What do they mean? Of course, they were being said to the women of Jerusalem who wept for Jesus along the Way of Sorrows; but they were directed, not only to those women, but to all future generations, to all of us. Many of us worry about our futures, about our children, and about this world. What will happen? What can we do? Those questions lead me to another familiar set of words that are perhaps more important to keep in mind: “Make me a channel of your peace” (Prayer of St. Francis). I realize it takes more than just one person to make a change in this world as big as the one we need, but didn’t it also take just one person to start the ball rolling towards violence and hate? Every road to hate begins with just one person, one remark made from a high office, from a protest march, from a political stage, even from an altar. Once one person begins spewing hate and destruction, isn’t it just one small step for others to jump on the bandwagon? And no matter how many voices are shouting in hate, it only takes one person to carry it out. It took one person to assassinate Lincoln, one person to assassinate Kennedy, one person to assassinate Martin Luther King Jr, one person to shoot Ronald Reagan. So why can’t it take just one person to begin the journey toward peace? Read more
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