Dear Friends in Christ;
After the horror yesterday in Boston, I was talking by phone with my son, a senior in college. He remarked that this kind of violence seems to be more and more common, and then he asked, "Dad, how does this get better?" It was one of those moments in parenting when I was stuck.
On the one hand, I thought of Pascal: "Christ is in agony until the end of the world." On the other, it occurred to me that we are not only in the Easter season, but that we are a people of the Cross and the Resurrection: everywhere around us we see the wounds of Calvary, and we are called to believe that at any moment and in any place the good news can ring out that the Tomb is empty, and our Hope is alive.
Let us pray, please, for all those killed and wounded on Boylston Street, and for the dozens and hundreds more who are dazed and grieving. Please pray for the city of Boston, and for her people, whom Betsy and I love, from the South End to Chestnut Hill, from Roxbury to Brookline. And pray that God will comfort those in need, and that in every moment of their tears He will make known His power to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.
Faithfully in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Dorsey McConnell
Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh
crux est mundi medicina